Quote:This is purely hypothetical.
I own a share in a small piece of land (about an acre) and we co-
owners are thinking of applying for planning permission. We've been
told that, if planning is permitted, we would be required to undertake
an archaeological survey.

As I understand it, and as things stand at the moment, there is no law
that says I cannot hire a digger and just dig the site up prior to the
application being submitted (or accepted). Would this be legal, and
would it obviate the requirement to carry out the archaeological
assessment? I _know_ it would be an act of inexcusable vandalism -
I'm merely interested in the legality.

Quote:AFAIK and this came up when talking to various builders and planning
people, the general opinion was that if you do find something, and the
archaeologists get to hear, they can shut you down for years while the
burrow and mutter.
My advice would be to diog a test trench right across the site, and if
nothing shows up, present that as evidence that there is nothing there,
and if something does, make a moral ethical and commercial decision as
to what the heck to do next.

ruined archaeology is not worth actually re-digging. I dont think its
illegal to wreck a site: Only to wreck it AFTER the archaeolgists have
got a court order..or something like that.