8th July 2005, 06:36 PM
Professional Archaeologists are regulated to a greater or lesser degree by for example Home Office Licences, the curatorial system, funding bodies, PAS, the planning system and similar. Also the Ancient Monuments Law and AAI law. I keep on forgetting other regulations such as those for conservation areas and listed building. There are also regulations on wrecks.
The point is professional archaeologists if anything take all this regulation very seriously.
None professional archaeologists on the otherhand while bound by much of this regulation may or may not follow it particularly to the same degree.
Until the fundamental principal that a land owner owns what is on his land is changed or the entire country is scheduled licensing is impractical.
As things stand somebody can be prosecuted for retreiving what they lawfully own for example an iron nail on a SAM because they use a metal detector. On the otherhand the same person cannot be prosecuted for picking up the same nail if they find it while ploughing.
Peter
The point is professional archaeologists if anything take all this regulation very seriously.
None professional archaeologists on the otherhand while bound by much of this regulation may or may not follow it particularly to the same degree.
Until the fundamental principal that a land owner owns what is on his land is changed or the entire country is scheduled licensing is impractical.
As things stand somebody can be prosecuted for retreiving what they lawfully own for example an iron nail on a SAM because they use a metal detector. On the otherhand the same person cannot be prosecuted for picking up the same nail if they find it while ploughing.
Peter