Example archaeology dissertation topic 5:

Canal archaeology: A modern day archaeological gem waiting to be discovered.

The canals and inland waterways of England and Wales are now busier than ever before, though the traffic now using them is primarily holiday-orientated, rather than freight. In looking at the opportunities that canals give to archaeologists interested in the modern industrial period, this dissertation gives especial focus to the programmes of restoration embarked by the Cotswold Canals Trust (the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames and Severn Canal). This is a dissertation that benefits not only from a range of secondary sources upon the manner in which the canal fell into disrepair and eventual closure but also primary research from the perspectives of contemporary workers in the canal system, and their finds.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Ashmore, O. (1982). The industrial archaeology of North-West England. Manchester: University of Manchester Press.
• Conway-Jones, H. (2007). ‘Stroudwater Canal features influenced by the Ship Canal to Gloucester’, Cotswold Canals Restoration, Vol. 1, pp. 1-9.
• Nevell, M. (2003). ‘The archaeology of the canal warehouses of North-West England and the social archaeology of industrialisation’, Industrial Archaeology Review, Vol. 25(1), pp. 43-57.