ABSTRACT
This chapter is a partial and personal account of the history of archaeology as a profession, and is not intended as an exhaustive scholarly survey. The underlying motive is a desire to examine how management techniques in archaeology have developed, and whether the divergence between historical and current practice has any bearing on the question of why, despite the dedication of those working in the field, so many projects fail to reach publication and so much unofficial discontentment is expressed. If it encourages serious debate it will have served a useful purpose.
