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European Association of Archaeologists

CORK, IRELAND - EAA 11th Annual Meeting, 5th-12th September 2005

Heritage Administrative Law in the twenty-first Century. Fact or Fantasy?




This session has been developed to examine the interrelationships between legal and management theory and the actuality of practice in modern heritage management.
The eight papers will be presented in pairs, one theory and one practice to facilitate discussion concerning areas of conflict and harmony inherent in the management of our Cultural Heritage. Participants will be drawn from a number of disciplines including Anthropology, Archaeology, Law, and Management and wide-ranging backgrounds. Topics to be addressed include PPG 16, Theory and Practice, Involvement of local populations in the decision making process, The role of Non Government Organisations in policy formation and Conflict resolution.
Running order

Papers Abstracts

1) Peter Alexander-Fitzgerald BA LLB LLM Heritage Law Net
Heritage protection legislation and related conflicts, Priorities, Desires and Ambitions.

All states in Europe are guardians of our heritage whether they like it or not and it is from this common point of reference that I will examine some of the protection methodologies available and the forms of conflict that can arise especially in producing guidelines and criteria related to selection and protection. I shall also be referring to other points of commonality, principally International conventions and treaties such as the World Heritage Convention and the still much misunderstood Valletta Convention. Throughout this paper it will be assumed that there is a universal desire to protect the past, or at least certain elements of it, for whatever reason and that the normally accepted method is through the medium of legislation, both primary and secondary.


2) George Chaplin Time Watch


PPG16 was introduced in 1990 and heralded in a whole new world of developer driven archaeology - from now on the archaeological world was to change and there are many examples of how these changes were to the benefit of our heritage resource. However, there are problems.
In my paper I will look at some practical examples that show that the implementation of PPG16 to be flawed by its nature, and how this implementation can be "interpreted" to the detriment of Britain's heritage.

3)Lynn Shillitoe Trinity College Carmarthen

Gaining recognition for Heritage Landscapes.

Sense of Place is an important ingredient in the experience of visiting a single monument or a site.
It is my intention to present a range of perspectives and ask questions about if it can be enhanced or diminished
I'd like to explore ways we can enhance the experience and what the potential benefits are in doing so.
I suggest that there are benefits to the local community, that there may be a regional impact in some cases and that there may be benefits on a national scale

4) Dr Jenny Blaine Sheffield Hallam

The Spirit or the Letter? Meaning, law and guardianship in British Sacred Sites

Increasingly people engage with prehistoric monuments as 'Sacred Sites', with tensions and issues paralleling those of competing claims to place and meaning elsewhere. When is heritage sacred? When does the sacred fall under heritage law? How are competing claims for access and land use (including mineral extraction) in conflict? How far can heritage law protect sacredness or rights of those 'new-indigenes' who treat sites as sacred? This paper, as part of the Sacred Sites project (www.sacredsites.org.uk) will look at how such issues and tensions around them affect or constitute sacredness at sites including Stanton Moor and Rollright in addition to the world heritage sites of Stonehenge and Avebury.

5) Dr Christopher Young English Heritage
Conventions, Charters, Directives and Recommendations: a way through the maze?

For the heritage manager at the national or local level, there is a bewildering mass of international requirements and advice to be considered. There is often confusion about the legal status of these documents, who produces them and what effect they can have on day-to-day management of the historic environment. How far is all this guidance and direction useful to those on the ground? What has the most direct impact on our day-to-day work? This paper explores these issues and tries to provide some guidance


6) Dr Catherine Swift Scoil na Gaeilge NUI Galway
'Discussing the role of the citizen in development-led archaeology'


Development –led archaeology places the focus for archaeological planning and execution on three key elements: the archaeologists carrying out the dig, the developer on whose land the excavation is taking place and the bureaucracy, normally a function of the national state, which oversees the work done. In this paradigm, the
educational and community components which were key features in the development of European archaeology in the period after the Second World War, are often minimised. In Britain a long-standing tradition from Sir Mortimer Wheeler to Time
Team has placed great emphasis on the dissemination of information to the public on a proactive basis. Archaeology in Ireland has evolved in a different fashion with
excavations being traditionally seen purely in terms of academic research and with employment rather than education being the primary pay-back for the local population. In this paper, I propose to look at the role of the interested citizen in an era of almost full employment in Ireland where much larger sums are currently available for archaeological research than has historically been the case. How should
such citizens express their interest, what forums are available to them and how they can contribute to an enhanced knowledge and management of our national and local past are all questions which seem worth debating but for which we
have, as yet, no definitive answers.

7) Michael MacDonagh Donegal National Roads Design Office
WORKING IN IRELAND- The Rough Guide to EU Procurement Law and Archaeology- An Irish Interpretation
EU public sector procurement laws apply to any public body awarding contracts over a certain monetary value. Archaeological services, excavations, geophysical survey etc has been deemed to fall under the umbrella of the law, which is aimed at free trade across the European sector. This means that if the value of a single archaeological contract is estimated to exceed ca €250,000, details of that contract must be advertised across all of Europe through the EU tender website.
In Ireland, the National Roads Authority has helped instigate the inclusion of archaeological codes within the EU procurement framework and advertises many of it’s numerous large archaeological contracts across Europe. The talk will aim to explain to all the procurement process and details of where advertisements can be examined and a primary aim will be to assist our new European member states in getting to grips with the law. Future EU-funded infrastructural developments- eg. roads, sewerage and water systems, airports- in these countries will involve archaeological impact and is likely to involve the procurement of archaeologists to carry out necessary excavations. To avoid EU penalties, knowledge of EU procurement law is essential and this Irish interpretation of the law, as viewed by the Irish National Roads Authority may prove of benefit to some.


8) Catherine Desmond Dept. of Environment, Heritage and Local Government Ireland
Value Conflicts, Development Control And Archaeology

The aim of this paper is to evaluate how archaeology is protected within the planning system in Ireland by assessing the criteria employed in reaching planning decisions which have an impact on archaeology. An evaluation of the methodology used when assessing, approving or authorising developments which impact on archaeology will be undertaken.
A comprehensive study of legislation and charters linking archaeology and planning will be presented. This legislation includes the National Monuments Act 1930 – 2004 and the Local Government (Planning and Development) Acts 1963-2000. Archaeological and development control references will be extracted from relevant European legislation. This approach will highlight how Irish statutes are also required to take cognisance of European and international statutes.
The aim of this paper is to determine how planning decisions with an archaeological component are reached. In order to do this, the possible significance of a number of factors in the planning process which effect the final archaeological planning condition will be assessed. These factors include:
• Legal requirements under the Planning and Monuments Acts
• Socio-economic and environmental considerations
• Development requirements
• Proper planning and sustainable development