Mucking (archaeological site)

Mucking is an archaeological site near the village of Mucking in southern Essex. The site contains remains dating from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages—a period of some 3,000 years—and the Bronze Age and Anglo-Saxon features are particularly notable. Major excavations took place at the site between 1965 and 1978, directed by Margaret Ursula Jones. Covering an area of 18 hectares (44 acres), at the time it was the largest archaeological excavation in Europe, and is the largest excavation ever undertaken in the British Isles. Excavation continued year-round to stay ahead of gravel extraction that was rapidly destroying the site, accumulating an "astonishing" volume of material. Only a fraction of this was analysed or published in Jones' lifetime, and ultimately the bulk of the post-excavation work was left to others. The first volume of a "full publication" was not published until 2015, by which point the post-excavation phase had cost significantly more than the initial excavation. This led some to criticise Mucking as an irresponsible, "excavation without publication".