The origins of the CBA lie in the Congress of Archaeological Societies, founded in 1898, but it was in 1943, with the tide of war turning, that archaeologists in Britain began to contemplate the magnitude of tasks and opportunities that would confront them at the end of hostilities.

In London alone more than 50 acres of the City lay in ruins awaiting redevelopment, while the historic centres of Bristol, Canterbury, Exeter, Southampton, and many other towns had suffered devastation.

The new Council defined one of its objectives as the "safeguarding of all kinds of archaeological material and the strengthening of existing measures for the care of ancient and historic buildings, monuments, and antiquities".

[citation needed] Following its first meeting in March 1944 under Clapham's Presidency (he was succeeded later that year by Sir Cyril Fox), the Council initiated local excavation committees in a number of war-damaged towns, began to seek information about reconstruction projects, and set its Regional Groups the task of watching sites of all kinds.

The Congress of Archaeological Societies was quickly wound up, and one of the tasks that the CBA inherited from it was the drawing up of a Survey and Policy for Field Research, which was seen as fundamental to an integrated approach to the exploration of Britain's heritage.

In 1965, the CBA's response to the Buchanan report Traffic in Towns introduced the concept of historic urban areas, as opposed to individual buildings or sites.

Today the CBA's work is focused on three strategic areas: participation, discovery and advocacy which bring together its wide-ranging activities in education, research, publication, and information provision.

Members of the CBA help to ensure they have the resources to develop their work in education, conservation and providing information, and strengthen the profile of archaeology in the minds of decision-makers.

A programme of digitisation has enabled free, electronic access to much of the CBA's back catalogue of publications, including British Archaeology and many books and occasional papers.

Each year, the CBA hosts its Winter General Meeting at the British Academy, featuring a series of lectures on a theme linking archaeology with a related discipline.