Theme 3: System, Law and Regulation

• Valletta Convention 1992


  Multilateral treaty, Council of Europe, International legally binding within Europe
• From EU treaty to national law


  1. Implementation period (1992-2007)

  2. Interim policy (2003-2007)
• Issues


  • Developer pays policy
  • Decentralisation
  • Commercial system/quality assurance
  • Archaeological permit system
• Effect of decentralisation


  • System change of roles: national, provincial and local levels
  • Organisation changes, planning procedures
  • City council: archaeological policies
• Implementation in Europe


  • Policy for in situ preservation
  • Policy for ex situ preservation
• Archaeological heritage management


  • Taking care of archaeological heritage: in/ex situ preservation
  • All measurements that come from heritage act and environmental act
  • Activities of c. 100 million euro annually in Netherlands produced
• Heritage act


  • Listing monuments
  • Subsidies
  • Certification archaeological businesses
  • Archaeological depots
• Environmental act

  • Permits
  • Listing urban and village ensembles
  • Cultural heritage in the zoning plan
  • Provincial and municipal monuments
• Loss of certificate = cheap labour, dishonesty about the employed team
• Desk based assessment (DBA)


  Archival information assessed
• Positivism


  Way of looking at science, objective and researcher is value free, hypothesis is a yes or no
• Archaeological heritage cycle


  1. Input (assignment information)

  2. Action (DBA, field survey, speculative research)

  3. Output
• Roles: national authorities


  • National agency for Cultural Heritage
  • Researchers, offers information, assesses policy, consultancy for municipalities and other bodies
  • Inspectorate monitors the system
  • In situ preservation
  • Information management
• Roles: provinces


  • Monitors and controls
  • Integration of archaeological complexes within planning and look at governance of municipalities
  • Support municipalities and private parties
  • Provincial depots: management and storage of finds
• Roles: municipalities


  • Central role of preservation of archaeological sites
  • Integrating sites in zoning plan, obliging developers to may for AHM, building permits
  • Spatial development: Removing = research => narrative of history
  • Keeping = integration into zoning plan
• Case study = Casus Almere, Neolithic => sand, Sea => clay, Polders => clay
• Protection of heritage sites


  Focuses on recognising cultural values and improvement of quality of human life, Part of sustainable development
• Stages in heritage management

  1. Documentation and registration

  2. Archiving

  3. Evaluation

  4. Protection/excavation

  5. Interpretation/synthesis

  6. Communication
• Inventarisation of archaeological heritage

  Archaeological survey: before entering field, collect all available documentary and visual information about study area
• Risk in heritage preservation


  • E.g burial mounds = sand and gravel areas => threatened by sand extraction for construction works or criminal/illicit digs like Danilovka in 2003
• Stakeholders in archaeological heritage management


  • National narratives, economic interest and political power are main factors considered in management
  • Principals (1990 ICOMOS)= protection of archaeological heritage = based upon collaboration among professionals from many disciplines
  • Stakeholders = landowners, municipalities, local community
  • Site management as compromising among stakeholders
  • Valletta Convention emphasises heritage management + public recognition
• Evaluation of archaeological site


  Define what should be protected => understand the means of protection => realisation of heritage policy
• Case study - The Rose Theatre, On south bank of the Thames, constructed in 1587 and abandoned in first decade of 17th century, planning permission for redevelopment in 1988, Expensive excavation of 11m pounds in 6 months and redesigning
• Technical discussion: UK had to mechanism to ensure developers met full costs of archaeological work even when planning permission was granted
• Commercial Archaeology


  Archaeological research undertaken by private parties within a market system that work under European and national legislation
• Netherlands and commercial archaeology, Treaty of Valetta 2001, System is structured around concept of a free market with regulations
• Planning and archaeology


  • Legislative approach: focus on law requirements and maximise financial gain + public left out
  • Integrative approach: focus on qualitative value within financial possibilities, archaeological heritage can add value to planning
• Organising archaeological heritage management within commercial environment


  • Code of conduct, embedding commercial archaeology in policy and planning, research framework, fieldwork and publication, management skills, separation of responsibilities
• Case study - commercial archaeology in Spain, Origins = 1970s, economic growth favoured development plans without considering archaeological heritage, 1985 = Spanish Cultural Heritage law, Current situation: 2008 = 273 companies registered as undertaking archaeological activities
• Issues in Spain


  • Lack of official degree + economic activity of freelancers not recorded + lack of corporatism among companies and professionals
• Madrid: model of free market archaeology, Polluter pays principle introduced for development plans, Heritage and urbanism authorities in Madrid produce weekly report
• Future challenges: lack of professional regulation
• DISCO


  Acronym for the survey, European survey (Leonardo da Vinci programma), Jobs in archaeology, Barriers for mobility between European countries
• First question of the survey: what makes an archaeologist?

  • Varies between two extremes, Countries like Greece (legal definition) = linked with granting of permits to carry out excavations, Countries like Britains = defined by what person actually is, no formal legal definition
• University training in survey

  • Bachelor and licence; first degree after 3 or 4 years
  • Master, magister: one or two year course after bachelor
  • Doctorate: minimum of 3 years postdoctoral training or 7+- year
  • Habilitation: higher level of doctorate, may be obligatory for those aiming at higher academic posts
• Universally recognised EU system of qualifications, Long way from this, major problems for Archaeology are: Lack of first degree in archaeology in some countries, Differences in legal definitions, Different aims of university degrees
• DISCO 2014 (second survey), transnational analysis


  • Aims: trends in labour market, recruitment prospects, amount of archaeologists in a country, range of employers
  • Workforce total -> highest numbers in UK, Italy and Germany (>4300) + lowest number in Latvia, Bosnia and Cyprus (<100)
  • Gender balance -> on average 21 EU countries are in balance, female = 50.3% and male 49.7%
  • Disability -> 99% of workforce is able (discrimination), highest = NL (5%)
  • Country of origin -> 91% of workforce is of national origin
• Netherlands - results, Many independent workers/companies, skewed commercial market, Result = failing market -> low number of organisation and many of them small sized