Heathrow Terminal 5 Excavation Archive (Data Paper)

Framework Archaeology is a Joint Venture agreement between Oxford Archaeology (OA) and Wessex Archaeology (WA) to provide archaeological services to BAA (formerly British Airports Authority, now Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd). Given the potential scale of some of BAA's projects, the joint venture enables Framework Archaeology to draw on the full resources of both OA and WA, including site staff, specialist managers, administrative support, and technical facilities. In 1993, BAA plc and Heathrow Airport Limited submitted a joint planning application to develop an additional passenger terminal complex (Terminal 5), together with the provision of aircraft aprons and taxiways, and include the realignment of rivers and landscaping. The resulting archaeological excavations were undertaken as three main phases of work. Excavations in 1996 by the Museum of London Archaeology Service of approximately 4 ha of sludge stockpile areas (site code POK96). Between 1999-2000 Framework Archaeology excavated approximately 21 ha in the Perry Oaks sludge works and adjacent areas (WPR98). Framework Archaeology also undertook excavations between 2002-2007 as part of the construction of Terminal 5 (PSH02, TEC05) covering a further 50 hectares. Importantly the aim of the Terminal 5 archaeological programme was to move beyond the description and recovery of archaeological remains and to arrive at an understanding of the history of human inhabitation and the practical ways in which people established their presence in the material, social and political conditions of their day.