As Principal Director of Archaeological Management and Consulting Group, Martin oversees all company operations and ensures the fluid and efficient co-operation of our Aboriginal Heritage and Historical Archaeology teams. Martin is a prolific author and leading field archaeologist: the Heritage Council of NSW, and its current delegate Heritage NSW, have endorsed Carney’s archaeological assessments and applications on over 300 occasions for fieldwork under s139, s140, s144, s57, s60 and s65a of the Heritage Act 1977 or as a nominated Director for IDA, SSD or CSSI approvals in NSW, since 1993. Further afield, Carney is endorsed as an Excavation Director for historical archaeological sites in Tasmania, by Heritage Tasmania, since 2008.

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Carney is an acknowledged artefact specialist for Australian, United Kingdom and New Zealand ceramics, glass and bottles and the history of the aerated water industry, ginger beer brewing, breweries, potteries, glassworks and public houses in NSW. His research in Australian history, artefacts and material culture began in 1977 and since that time Martin has, for example, authored A Cordial Factory at Parramatta in the Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology (1998), consulted with Latrobe University, guest lectured with the University of Sydney and more recently co-authored ‘Thirsty Work’ (2009) with David Jones, a 1050 page volume on the history of soft drink manufacturers in Sydney. Martin is also the author of the ‘Artefacts Talk’ series (2015-2022) which highlights Sydney’s 19th century drinking history through a curation of stories about ginger beer brewers and ginger beer bottles in NSW. He has been regularly published in History and Archaeology since 1979.

 

Throughout his career, Carney has been approved Excavation Director or site director of five of the largest terrestrial archaeological sites in Australia located in Parramatta, Newcastle, Hobart, Broadway and Camperdown and has directed works at large scale maritime sites in Newcastle, Sydney, Parramatta and Hobart. He has directed contact/convict period sites at Sydney, Newcastle, Parramatta, Port Macquarie, Hobart and Launceston and is the author and co-author of more than 250 archaeological, assessment, artefact specialist and excavation reports since 1989.