Information for archaeological contractors

The London Museum Archaeological Archive documents archaeological excavations in Greater London. Organisations performing fieldwork must deposit certain information with the Archaeological Archive.

Here you will find information and downloadable material on:

• requirements and standards for documenting fieldwork
• charges
• standards for deposition

Each year, round-ups for all fieldwork in the Greater London area have to be submitted for publication in the London Archaeologist.

Fieldwork round-ups must be prepared by the archaeological organisations responsible for undertaking the fieldwork and submitted to the Archaeological Archive for final editing. These round-ups are then compiled and submitted to the London Archaeologist for publication.

The fieldwork round-ups should adhere to the following requirements and preferred vocabulary:

If you have any questions about preparing fieldwork round-ups, please email us at [email protected]

The Archaeological Archive charges for the issue of site codes for new archaeological projects in Greater London.

The charge, which is £50 per site code, covers the administration costs of the management and maintenance of the archaeological site directory. Local archaeological societies are exempt from these charges.

The Archaeological Archive also charges for archive deposition by all commercial contractors. These charges cover the costs of managing the archives to help ensure their long-term preservation and access. As with the site codes, local archaeological societies are exempt from these charges.

For a full breakdown of the deposition charges, please consult the Archaeological Archive Tariff for Deposition of Archives. The charges are exclusive of VAT.

The Archaeological Archive still runs bi-annual deposition windows in May and November. To arrange depositions, please get in touch at [email protected]

The London Museum Archaeological Archive accepts archaeological archives related to London boroughs and the City of London, provided that they conform to our published Standards for Deposition.

You can see our guidance note for recording registered finds for further information.

For registered terms for finds, please refer to the MDA Object Type Thesaurus