Letter: Please give it your support

There has been a huge outcry – and rightly so – over Sheffield University’s executive board’s recommendation that the Department of Archaeology is closed down, with a couple of areas moved to other departments and staff made redundant.

The speed of the decision-making and the lack of transparency in the process are startling.

Archaeology and the staff who teach it are at the heart of Sheffield life and we need it just now more than ever – Sheffield’s heritage is coming into the spotlight with the Heritage Strategy recently published by Joined Up Heritage Sheffield, and funding for the development of a Local List of heritage assets.

The popularity of the July Festival of Archaeology and September’s Heritage Open Days demonstrate how interested people are.

The department is embedded in city life.

So many sites in Sheffield have had significant input from archaeologists at the University – Sheffield Castle, Manor Lodge, Whirlow, Rivelin Valley, Wincobank, Bolsterstone Castle and more – through their expertise not only in excavation, but in training community members, interpretation and drawing down funding.

Do we want to lose all this?

I write as secretary of a society which has met at the university since its foundation in 1912.

We rely heavily on the goodwill of our archaeological colleagues and they give it freely.

The department should be invested in and allowed to grow and thrive again – please give it your support.