The Victorians were the first Britons to really engage with Archaeology as a means to making an academic discovery. The first Archaeologists were basically tomb raiders. The Victorian’s theorised that hidden beneath the long barrows and round barrows of the countryside there lay a huge amount of gold and silver, possibly even bejewelled brooches and rings. However, when they began to dig them up all they found were a load of human remains, beakers, tools and flints.
For all we, and they, knew there may well have been a hoard in the barrows. It is highly likely someone had that idea first and cleaned it out centuries before. Even so the Victorians soon got over their disappointment and proceeded to use the finds to try and explain our ancestors.
This belief continues to this day. However, an excavation is usually a last resort. Underground scans can tell us what and where there is in terms of buildings and the general held belief is it is better to leave the places below ground so as to protect them.
Most digs are know rescue archaeology. This is when a site is found by builders. Work is suspended and the site excavated, documented and any finds recorded. Sometimes there are so many Linbins from https://www.rackzone.ie/storage-kits-5/bin-racks are used to store it all.
