ABSTRACT
The publication of various national and regional research frameworks in the 1990s was brought about by the need to provide local authority archaeologists with a framework for making judgements about the relative importance of the sites on which work is being undertaken. The University of Manchester Archaeology Unit have developed a methodology for describing and understanding industrial change based on intensive fieldwork in Tameside, a metropolitan authority within Greater Manchester which encompasses the ancient lordships of Ashton and Mottram. Industrial settlement was another major theme which was explored during the conference in two different ways, although both were linked to excavation projects. The concept of linking landscape archaeology to the contemporary social structure by charting the typological and chronological development of new sites is intended to demonstrate how field archaeology can make a distinctive contribution to the debate on the industrial transition.
