29th August 2013, 06:41 PM
Not excavating is a self-fulfilling prophesy which will propagate itself. If you don't excavate, you definitely don't find anything. This will tell the next development that "Nothing's been found here". It won't mention that nothing's been found because nobody bothered looking.
By the same token, if you excavate but don't publish, that has the same end result. There have been three excavations in my local town which found significant Roman remains. As these have never been published, the local planners take this as meaning that there's no archaeology in the area - goodness knows what's being missed during building work. Different discussion though.
By the same token, if you excavate but don't publish, that has the same end result. There have been three excavations in my local town which found significant Roman remains. As these have never been published, the local planners take this as meaning that there's no archaeology in the area - goodness knows what's being missed during building work. Different discussion though.