Regional Archaeology Service
Within the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Directorate for Cultural Affairs, the Regional Archaeology Service is responsible for implementing the State’s archaeology policy at regional level.
Field archaeological research begins with a comprehensive inventory of available knowledge about the area to be studied and its context. The next step may be the implementation of surveys to establish a diagnosis of traces of human occupations still preserved.
Depending on the results obtained, a search may be undertaken. It includes the careful exploration of all structures, movable and immovable remains, human remains, elements of fauna, flora, etc. identified, and their recording through various plans, sections, photographs, notes and cards.
After the field study begins the research and laboratory work phase: the net-work of the field surveys, the study of the discovered material, the execution of the additional studies and the necessary analyses, work of synthesis and writing of texts. They result in the preparation of the final operation report. It is only after the technical and scientific validation of the report by the Regional Archaeological Service that the publication of the site can be implemented, in the form of a monograph or summary articles, depending on the importance of the results obtained.
The archaeologist cannot be an isolated researcher. The excavation is the work of a team that brings together many specialists whose competence touches both Man (anthropology) and his environment (natural sciences).
The archaeologist has a duty to make the results of excavations and scientific studies widely known and disseminated. Publications, exhibitions and Internet sites contribute to public awareness and thus to the preservation of archaeological heritage, a finite and non-renewable resource.
The regional archaeology service oversees the policy of study, inventory, protection, conservation and enhancement of archaeological heritage at the regional level. It enforces laws and regulations relating to archaeology.
To carry out its missions, the regional archaeology service, placed under the authority of the regional prefect, is advised by the Territorial Commission for Archaeological Research, and relies on the operators and researchers who carry out the archaeological operations.
The service consists of a team of archaeologists, engineers, heritage curators, technicians and administrative staff. The organization of the service, adapted to the size and diversity of the region, allows to ensure action throughout the territory, combining a territorial approach and a thematic approach around the 4 main missions. It manages, within the archaeological deposits spread over the entire territory, the archaeological collections and the archives of excavations.
The Regional Archaeology Service works in conjunction with other DRAC departments responsible for heritage protection, including the Regional Conservation of Historic Monuments - protected monuments often constituting archaeological sites - and departmental units of architecture and heritage (UDAP) that contribute to the promotion of heritage, architectural and urban quality, conservation and enhancement of built heritage.
It collaborates with local authorities: Region, Departments, public institutions of intercommunale cooperation, communes, both to accompany their development projects and to closely accompany their services in charge of the heritage.
Finally, it contributes with museums to the conservation of objects, safeguarded in good conditions, and to the presentation of scientific results to the public.
In addition, the regional archaeology service works closely with all the scientists, volunteers and professionals involved in the field of archaeology at the CNRS and the University, with theNational Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) and with operators of local authorities and authorised private operators.
Preventive archaeology means a public service mission for which the State is responsible and which is carried out when elements of the archaeological heritage are threatened with destruction by public or private works or development projects. It aims to safeguard scientific information held by archaeological heritage.
In other words, preventive archaeology does not oppose the realization of works or developments but it organizes the preliminary study of the remains when no other solution of implantation of the development does not prevent them from being damaged.
It can result in a diagnostic operation and, depending on the results, a search operation.
The archaeological diagnosis allows to verify the presence of remains on the right of way of the project and characterizes them. For this purpose, archaeologists carry out surveys in the soil, which represent 5 to 10% of the project’s footprint, equally distributed on the ground, in order to optimize the discovery of clues.
The result of the diagnosis is presented in a detailed report that makes it possible to account for the discoveries, the density, the nature of the conservation of the remains, and determines the dating of the sites, often thanks to the collected objects.
In the case where remains have been uncovered, two solutions arise:
- The planner may propose to modify his project in order to ensure the conservation of the site, either by moving the project or by providing, for example, fill between the remains and the base of its development.
- When the destruction of the site cannot be avoided, it is then necessary to search all the remains. On the basis of the State’s requirements, the developer, the project owner, chooses the operator and signs a contract with him that integrates the scientific intervention project, and the conditions of its implementation (costs, deadlines, etc.).
The purpose of the archaeological excavation is, through studies, field and laboratory work, to collect archaeological data in order to ensure, through their thorough study, the transmission of the scientific value of the site in the form of documentation (plans, drawings, photos) and series of objects (ceramics, bones, charred plant remains, building elements, etc.). This step is carried out by operators, professional teams, approved by the Ministry of Culture.
The excavation is the responsibility of the developer, who can benefit under certain conditions from financial assistance from the State.
At the end of the search:
A laboratory study phase is initiated, at the end of which a report is produced. The results give rise to scientific publications, while the collected objects join the archaeological museums of the territory where they are the subject of a valorization towards the public.
Archaeology is programmed when it responds, regardless of any development and any threat on a site, to the interrogation of researchers: academics, members of the CNRS, volunteer researchers, archaeologists of communities or the State.
It is carried out under the responsibility of the researcher, who must present a coherent and detailed project. Indeed, most archaeological interventions contribute to reducing our heritage due to the necessary “dismantling” of the remains by excavation. A high degree of scientific requirement therefore presides over the examination of research projects, all of which are subject to the authorization of the Prefect of Region, after the detailed opinion of experts of the Interregional Commission of Archaeological Research (CIRA). These investigations give rise to a search report, the seriousness and quality of which are then evaluated.
This research can take many forms. Most often, it involves the excavation of a site or part of a site. The search may take several years and results in the submission of a report and a new application for authorization each year. These excavations can make it possible to approach the entirety of a site in its horizontal expansion, and in its stratigraphic development.
Archaeological, aerial or pedestrian prospecting programmes also contribute to the dynamics of research, either through a thematic approach, targeted on a specific type of heritage (mines, caves, ancient sites, etc.) or dedicated to a particular territory in a comprehensive inventory of sites. The same applies to site surveys, whether they are rock art, dolmens or castles... Finally, collective research programmes (PCR) are set up to enable several researchers to work in teams around the same line of thinking.
The results of the research are the subject of a dissemination activity, not only in scientific circles, but also to the public, through the development of sites, conferences, exhibitions and publications.
Funding of planned archaeology
These operations receive financial support from the State through grants. Some of them are also supported by loans, for example in the framework of State-Region project contracts or European programmes.
Applications for funding are reviewed by the Regional Cultural Affairs Directorates (RDCA) and funding is allocated after an assessment of the scientific quality of the project.
The archaeological inventory has gradually taken its place in the structuring of archaeology in order to meet the growing need for preservation of remains, threatened by the important development of the post-war territory.
The archaeological heritage, often buried, is fragile and sometimes appears in view too late, under the action of mechanical devices.
State services have been surveying archaeological sites since 1945. Today, Article L522-5 of the Heritage Code clearly defines the framework of this inventory:
« With the assistance of public institutions with archaeological research activities and local authorities, the State prepares and updates the national archaeological map. This map gathers and orders for the entire national territory the available archaeological data ».
The archaeological inventory is the responsibility of the Regional Archaeological Service (SRA). As discoveries are made and knowledge advanced, the national archaeological map is enriched by a dedicated team. Within the framework of the archaeological map, the State may define areas where development projects affecting the subsoil are presumed to be the subject of archaeological requirements prior to their completion.
The national archaeological map is a fundamental working tool for the management of the territory and the consideration of archaeological remains.
It is used to:
- To estimate the state of knowledge at a given site, in the event that a development project could jeopardize remnants without prior study. It is therefore a guide for the regional archaeology services that are required to prescribe preventive archaeology operations during work projects affecting the basement, the soil and the built heritage .
- Draw up management and land-use planning documents, familiarize themselves with local town-planning plans (PLU) and territorial coherence schemes (Scot)
- Guide students or senior researchers at the beginning of a study, in order to constitute thematic corpus, bases of their research.
The data can be consulted by the Regional Archaeology Service, in priority for archaeologists, owners of land containing remains, design offices preparing development projects, and the authorities in charge of spatial planning, for example in the context of drawing up local town planning.
Each application is examined and a specific answer is given, depending on the state of knowledge and to best answer the question asked.
The inventory of the national territory is far from exhaustive and many remains remain to be discovered. Archaeological work of all kinds, as well as computerized data processing, continues to enrich knowledge.
At the end of the excavation, the regional archaeology service is responsible for the conservation of objects and archives, and for the transmission and dissemination of the results.
One of the duties of archaeologists is to make available in the best conditions the objects collected during the excavations.
Several restoration laboratories are, in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, able to stabilize fragile materials, such as woods full of water coming out of lakes and rivers (ARC-Nucléart in Grenoble), metals, glass, but also mosaics (interdepartmental restoration workshop of the Rhône and Isère).
The objects are then given to the museums of the region presenting archaeological collections. It is to the latter that the work of transmitting to the general public the scientific results of the excavations, through exhibitions, conferences or publications, is done. These publications, in regional, national and international journals and books, make the archaeological results accessible to the entire scientific community.
In this context, the DRAC can provide financial support to researchers and publishers.
The regional archaeology service also participates in the dissemination of archaeological results by bringing together the network of researchers around archaeological, territorial or thematic days, and by publishing each year a regional scientific review (BSR).
It encourages, where possible, the holding of open days, school visits on construction sites, conferences. It participates in national events such as the European Archaeology Days or the European Heritage Days.
Archaeology is also present in other national events, such as the European Night of Museums or Science Week.
Finally, the documentary collection relating to heritage and archaeology can be consulted in the documentation centres of the DRAC site of Lyon and Clermont-Ferrand by appointment .