archaeology grants

Our Archaeology Funding Programme

The Archaeology Funding Programme operates under section 45 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. Its main purpose is to mitigate destruction of archaeological sites (including buildings) and landscapes through the funding of projects involving survey, excavation, advice, training and education.

Work is commissioned on a commercial basis or (wherever possible) by grants to bodies such as universities or heritage trusts.

What we fund

Most of our grants are for projects which rescue information in the face of unavoidable threats, or help us to assess the threats to archaeological sites and landscapes. The most common threats are

• coastal erosion and related natural processes;
• semi-natural processes such as rabbit damage or regeneration of woodland;
• gradual processes resulting from human activities, like the destruction of sites by agricultural ploughing.
  
  

Examples of funded projects:

• fieldwork and reporting
• conservation of excavated artefacts
• specialists reports based on analysis of excavated material
• publication of archaeological reports
• the disposal of finds to museums
• research into information and techniques for managing sites and monuments
• writing up important excavations whose directors are no longer active in archaeology
• informing and educating the public about archaeological work.

What we do not fund

Archaeology grants are not given for improving the condition of monuments or their long-term management. Other grants are available from Historic Scotland for these purposes.

We do not normally give Archaeology grants for:

• projects dealing with archaeology in advance of or during developments which require planning permission
• pure archaeological research outside the list of valid topics above, without any element of site-based investigation
• projects which have already begun without our initial involvement

How to apply

In general we look to you to fund a significant proportion of the project yourself, or get part-funding from other sources.

There is a single annual bidding cycle. Applications are invited from those we know to be active in Scottish archaeology in September each year and decisions are announced in January.  Urgent projects can, however, be considered at any time of year.

Use the contacts on this website if you wish to be placed on our e-mail list, to receive bidding details
Projects may be short and self-contained or, where appropriate, may last several years – we have supported projects ranging from £50 to £500 000.

Applying

1. Discuss your proposals with an Historic Scotland Inspector from the relevant Inspectorate team [1.8 mb]
   
   
2. Obtain a guide to making a grant application [PDF, 381kb] or download the application form [Word, 147kb]   
   
   
3. Send us your application before 30^th September (for routine bids. If your bid is an emergency, contact the Inspectorate Archaeology Programmes & Grants Advice Team – Rod McCullagh or Noel Fojut to discuss.
   
   
4. Indicative decisions made in January for projects hoping to begin on or after 1^st April, the start of our funding year.
   
   
5. If you receive a grant offer, you need to accept it in writing, including the conditions of grant.
   
   
6. If you are successful, we will agree project-by-project on how you will draw your grant.
   
   
7. On completion of your project, we will discuss with you how your results can most effectively be published, and may be able to support this by offering a grant to a journal or other publication.