ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some reasons for this fundamental difference of approach, and shows that the wider application of scientific techniques to post-medieval investigations would be rewarded by significant new insights. Archaeological investigations dealing with the medieval and earlier periods routinely use a wide range of scientific techniques. In the post-medieval period, economic changes that started in the later Middle Ages continued to affect every area of the lives of ordinary people, and the rate of change increased steadily from the 16th century onwards. The competitive market for the products of woodlands during the 16th and 17th centuries encouraged the development of technologies that could use mineral fuels, and eventually led to the relocation of industries to the coalfields. These changes in methods of production can be seen as the beginnings of industrialization, though that term should strictly be reserved for non-domestic production.
