CDAS, founded in 1991, is affiliated to the Council for British Archaeology and works closely with Hampshire and West Sussex County Councils, Sussex Archaeological Society, the District Archaeology Officer, Chichester Harbour Conservancy, English Heritage, Chichester District Museum and Fishbourne Roman Palace.

From September to May we hold 8 monthly meetings with talks by leading archaeologists, authors and researchers covering a very wide range of subjects.

We organise programmes encompassing all the steps in a professional archaeological investigation including fieldwalking, surveying and excavation, finds processing, research and archiving, and training courses on a wide range of activities

We publish a guidebook in English and French to Chichester's visible history. Our survey of Bow Hill Iron Age site was published in 2009 in Sussex Archaeological Collections 147.

We are a friendly group of people and there are opportunities to socialise during the regular visits to places of archaeological and historical interest, on the bi-annual walk led by the District Archaeologist, in the bar after lectures, at the occasional summer party and during the social gathering which accompanies our AGM.