ABSTRACT
The period 1882-1945 was a time of slow transition for the study of the archaeology of the Middle Ages, but concealed here, and often ignored by modern researchers, are the roots of the subject’s rapid post-war growth. A high priority was placed upon the public display of medieval monuments and this was a time of methodological advances led by air photography and field survey. Excavations often targeted well-documented monuments at the higher end of the social scale but gradually moved towards the broader analyses of artefact types and monument classes. Many concepts formulated during this period continue to have a profound influence on the discipline, particularly those derived from economic history, historical geography and local history.
