Recession leaves history in past (UK)
Mr Smith, resources director at Wessex Archaeology in Salisbury, Wiltshire, said his firm has laid off 60 archaeologists since orders "fell off a cliff" last November.
But he feels the business and the industry should have seen it coming.
Under new legislation any developer planning to build anything in a potentially sensitive area where there might be recorded remains, is required to have the land checked out by an archaeologist.
The law is understood to be responsible for a more than threefold increase in the number of working archaeologists, to 6,865 in the UK.
At least 345 have lost their jobs in the UK, according to a report for the Institute for Archaeologists and the Federation of Archaeological Managers and Employers.
Professor Mark Horton of Bristol University has predicted about a quarter will find themselves unemployed before the recession is over.
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But he feels the business and the industry should have seen it coming.
Under new legislation any developer planning to build anything in a potentially sensitive area where there might be recorded remains, is required to have the land checked out by an archaeologist.
The law is understood to be responsible for a more than threefold increase in the number of working archaeologists, to 6,865 in the UK.
At least 345 have lost their jobs in the UK, according to a report for the Institute for Archaeologists and the Federation of Archaeological Managers and Employers.
Professor Mark Horton of Bristol University has predicted about a quarter will find themselves unemployed before the recession is over.