ABSTRACT
The aim of publication, the final stage of Field Research Procedure, is to lay the results of the fieldwork before the public. Up to now archaeologists have decided what to do, how to do it, what to record, which to analyse and what it all means. But as any publisher will tell you, when it comes to publication, the verdict lies in the hands of readers, not authors. Since there is more than one kind of reader (see Chapter 3, Fig 3.9), there are many kinds of publication. Here I count eight different kinds of published output designed to serve eight different kinds of client (Fig 13.1). These include the preparation of archives (in their digital form increasingly the principal mode of access), issuing multi-copy reports, and making presentations by lecture, film and exhibitions and the presentation of the site itself to visitors. The perfect field archaeologist will be adept at each of these, just as good at archiving, argument and appearing on TV – but thankfully most people are not that perfect. The task of communication will be a collaborative one, each of us trying to develop the type of communication we do best, and working with others to serve the wider public.
