The Social Archaeology of Industrialisation

What is it about?

The Industrial Revolution represents one of the great changes in human society, and can be ranked in importance alongside the development of language, the establishment of farming, and the growth of urban societies. There is a large and growing body of literature about this Revolution, and the transition to an Industrial Society, written from the historians’ and economists’ view point, but little from an archaeological perspective (Clark, 1999:281–2). For the archaeologist the study of the Manchester region, with its early and rapid shift from rural backwater to industrial centre, offers models of archaeological transition and social stress that may be applicable to other regions undergoing similar processes (Nevell and Walker, 1999:11–2). The contributions to the debate made by industrial archaeologists in Britain have tended to lean towards studies of the mechanics, or physical character, of individual industries or structures, with a consequent lack of synthesis. This trend amongst British archaeologists is understandable given the volume of the available archaeological database and historical record and the depth of the theories of economic historians. Yet, as the Association for Industrial Archaeology and English Heritage have both observed, this trend may have meant that the contribution of archaeologists to the debate on the validity and origins of the Industrial Revolution as a concept has not been as great as it could have been (English Heritage, 1997:45; Palmer, 1991). The work presented in this paper is part of a long-term research program by the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit into the archaeology of industrialisation.

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