Preventive archaeology
Preventive archaeology ensures the «preservation by study» of traces of human occupation, when they are threatened by development. It has developed over the course of urbanization and major infrastructure works, allowing the archaeological heritage to be taken into account without hindering the development of spatial planning. Preventive archaeology operations are prescribed and controlled by the State.
The Service régional de l'archéologie (SRA) is involved by regulation in the appraisal of development authorizations: declaration of works, building permits, demolition permits, development permits and impact assessment. Where archaeological remains are threatened or are likely to be threatened, the prefect of the region may refuse the authorization or propose to refuse it to the competent authority (Article R111-4 of the Urban Planning Code). This procedure is exceptional: as a general rule, the prefect prescribes preventive archaeology.
“Saving through Study”
Archaeological sites are very numerous and the conservation of all would be difficult to reconcile with spatial planning. This is why the idea of “study safeguard” has emerged. When it is difficult to maintain a site, an alternative solution is the implementation of a preventive excavation. Indeed, a methodical excavation makes it possible to gather the bulk of the scientific information collected by a site. However, any archaeological excavation destroys the object of its study. Almost always, after a preventive search, there is no remnant that can be preserved in situ.
The diagnosis
The archaeological diagnosis must be carried out prior to the authorized development, but does not prevent the issuance of the authorization. Diagnosis is a limited recognition operation that aims to characterize an archaeological site (extension, conservation, chronology), allowing an accurate assessment of the nature of the risk. It is carried out by a public operator, after signing a convention with the developer. It is either the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) or an authorised or territorially competent local authority service. The diagnosis is funded by the preventive archaeology fee levied on development authorisations.
The search for technical solutions
When the diagnosis highlights a significant archaeological site, the Regional Archaeological Service looks for ways to ensure its conservation, in consultation with the developer. The latter can propose technical solutions (displacement of the facilities, less impact on the ground, backfilling, etc.) that can reduce the scale of the preventive excavation or make it unnecessary. If these solutions ensure the good conservation of the remains, total or partial, they are the subject of a Project Consistency Change Order.
Preventive archaeological excavation
Otherwise, the regional prefect may issue a preventive archaeological excavation prescription order, on the proposal of the Regional Curator of Archaeology and after consultation of the Territorial Commission for Archaeological Research (CTRA). This order includes a scientific specifications (CCS) which defines the objectives and methodology of the archaeological operation to be carried out.
The excavation is financed by the developer and carried out under his project management. For the individual building a home for himself, it is taken over by the State through the National Fund for Preventive Archaeology (FNAP). For housing built with the financial assistance of the State, it is taken in charge at 75% and for subdivisions of plots free of builder, at 50%. This fund also allows to grant other developers, in particular if the project is of general interest, the amount of which may not exceed 50% of the cost of the excavation.
The excavation is carried out by the Inrap or a preventive archaeology operator, public or private, approved or authorised by the State. It is the planner, the builder of the archaeological excavation, who chooses the operator (list of authorised and authorised operators) and sign with him a contract specifying the terms of the transaction and integrating the scientific intervention project (PSI) which responds in detail to the scientific specifications of the search order. In order to obtain authorization for excavation, the contracting authority shall apply to the Prefect of the Region (addressed to the DRAC) by enclosing these documents (contract, PSI and certificate of approval or authorisation) in accordance withOrder of 3 July 2017 establishing the list of elements constituting the offers of the operators for the realization of preventive archaeological excavations. The Regional Archaeology Service verifies compliance and issues the excavation authorization.
At the end of the field search, a laboratory study phase is initiated, lasting from several months to three years, at the end of which a very detailed report is produced (final transaction report or RFO, the content of which is specified by theorder of 27 September 2004 defining standards for the content and reporting of archaeological operations). It is examined by the Territorial Commission for Archaeological Research for validation, while the excavation archives, the collected objects and remains are handed over to the Regional Service of Archaeology which keeps them in the repositories and centers of conservation and study.
Find the instructions for preventive archaeology:
Archaeological Furniture and Scientific Documentation
Preventive archaeology operators must submit Regional Archaeology Service (SRA) archaeological furniture and scientific documentation from an archaeological operation when the transaction report was declared admissible by the SRAno later than two years after the completion of the diagnosis or from the date of the certificate of release for preventive excavations.
In order to guarantee the best conditions for the submission of this data, the SRA has established a payment protocol. It recalls the responsibilities of the operator and the SRA, defines the modalities of the payment: the delivery validation and the elements of the acceptance note. It proposes standards for inventories and packaging of archaeological furniture and scientific documentation.