The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
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<strong>The</strong> past in the present<br />
• 307 •<br />
<strong>The</strong> European Convention on the Protection <strong>of</strong> the Archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l Heritage (revised) was opened for<br />
signature in January 1992 in Valletta, Malta, by the Council <strong>of</strong> Europe (O’Keefe 1993). <strong>The</strong> UK<br />
Government has yet to ratify the Valletta Convention, but once this is done, its clauses will<br />
inform the future development <strong>of</strong> archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l legislation in the United Kingdom. <strong>The</strong> definition<br />
<strong>of</strong> archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l sites in the convention is broad, including structures, constructions, groups <strong>of</strong><br />
buildings, developed sites, movable objects, and monuments <strong>of</strong> other kinds whether situated on<br />
land or under water (Article 1). Emphasis is placed on the need to maintain proper inventories <strong>of</strong><br />
recorded sites; the information is subsequently used in the planning process to ensure wellbalanced<br />
strategies for the protection, conservation and enhancement <strong>of</strong> sites <strong>of</strong> archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l<br />
interest.<br />
At a national level, the main legislation is the <strong>An</strong>cient Monuments and Archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l Areas Act<br />
1979, amended for England by the National Heritage Act 1984. This legislation relates to sites or<br />
monuments that are explicitly recognized as being <strong>of</strong> archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l importance. Three such<br />
classes <strong>of</strong> monument are defined: scheduled monuments, <strong>of</strong> which there are currently about<br />
16,000 in England, 5,300 in Scotland and 2,700 in Wales; guardianship monuments, <strong>of</strong> which<br />
there about 440 in England, 330 in Scotland and 125 in Wales; and Areas <strong>of</strong> Archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l<br />
Importance, which are confined to five historic towns in England (Canterbury, Chester, Exeter,<br />
Hereford and York). Apart <strong>from</strong> guardianship, where the objective <strong>of</strong> direct management is total<br />
preservation <strong>of</strong> the site, the other designations are methods <strong>of</strong> controlling change as a means <strong>of</strong><br />
achieving preservation. In the <strong>ca</strong>se <strong>of</strong> scheduled monuments, control is achieved through a<br />
scheduled monument consent procedure, whereby permission is needed to undertake any kind<br />
<strong>of</strong> works likely to damage the monument. Such permissions may be subject to conditions, including<br />
the full archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l investigation and recording <strong>of</strong> remains prior to works commencing.<br />
Dealing with all these legal and advisory frameworks, together with numerous policy statements<br />
issued by public bodies and interested parties, the process <strong>of</strong> decision making has become highly<br />
compli<strong>ca</strong>ted. Moreover, one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
fundamental principles <strong>of</strong><br />
archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l resource<br />
management is that decision making<br />
should be properly informed.<br />
Accordingly, what has become<br />
known as the ‘management cycle’<br />
has developed as a consolidated,<br />
repeatable, and widely appli<strong>ca</strong>ble<br />
system to guide the acquisition <strong>of</strong><br />
information and the decision making<br />
process (Darvill and Gerrard 1994,<br />
157). Figure 17.5 shows the<br />
management cycle in schematic form<br />
with eight main stages:<br />
• Appraisal: define the problem or<br />
issue. In the <strong>ca</strong>se <strong>of</strong> a<br />
development programme, this<br />
would first involve the definition<br />
<strong>of</strong> the development site<br />
boundaries and the nature and<br />
s<strong>ca</strong>le <strong>of</strong> what was to be done.<br />
Figure 17.5 Schematic representation <strong>of</strong> the management cycle applied to<br />
archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l situations.<br />
Source: Timothy Darvill