Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers

The Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers, or ALGAO, functions as a body to represent archaeologists working for local authorities and national parks in the United Kingdom.

ALGAO resulted from the merger of the Association of County Archaeological Officers (ACAO) and the Council of District Archaeological Officers (CDAO) in 1996. These organisations, and consequently ALGAO, were centred on England and Wales. This situation remained until ALGAO merged with the Association of Regional and Island Archaeologists (ARIA) in 2006, who until that point represented archaeologists performing similar duties in Scotland.

The organisations ALGAO - Cymru, ALGAO - Scotland, and ALGAO - England were formed to serve the constituent regions. The Association has regional, national, transnational and thematic committees.^[1] It exists to provide a voice for local authority in delivering local, regional and national government policy; to ensure local government participation in policy for culture and education; to contribute to improving the sustainable management of the historic environment and promote development of high standards in the historic environment profession.^[2] The Association has also published guidance for local authority involvement in heritage preservation^[3] and policy.^[4] English Heritage plays a significant role in much of the work of the Association's members,^[5] who together represent some 74% of British archaeologists.^[6]

The Association has triggered controversy with its 'decolonisation' agenda, suggesting that the castles built by English king Edward I (who defeated Llywelyn ap Gryffydd, the last Welsh Prince of Wales and brought Wales under the English monarchy) should be seen as “symbols of oppression and alienation.”^[7] It had previously called for the removal of a statue of Welsh-American explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley (who coined the phrase “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”) writing “People who have been subjected to racial prejudice or racist attacks may find it traumatic to see figures who had known connections to racist policies or actions, celebrated prominently.”^[8] The campaign to remove the statue of Stanley was ultimately unsuccessful.^[9]