26th November 2008, 12:56 PM
Indeed Austin and David - the responsibility for adherence to the law in this, as in much else in contracting archaeology, would not be a responsibility of many contributing to this forum.
I wouldn't expect our site staff to have a detailed knowledge of the operation of the Scheduled Monument Consent process, or HMRC regulations, but the designated people in our conmpany do have that responsibility. The finds from site go through systems where suitably qualified and knowledgeable staff do assess this kind of thing.
The simple fact is that we don't actually find much "Treasure" (in the English/Welsh legal definition as opposed to the Scottish one). Since the introduction of the Act we have only had one occurrence where "Treasure" was found (and we have done a large number of projects since that date).
But hey, Gary, don't let the fact that the stats are likely to be a true reflection of the situation in professional archaeology get in the way of touting this around the 'other forums' to which you allude.
I wouldn't expect our site staff to have a detailed knowledge of the operation of the Scheduled Monument Consent process, or HMRC regulations, but the designated people in our conmpany do have that responsibility. The finds from site go through systems where suitably qualified and knowledgeable staff do assess this kind of thing.
The simple fact is that we don't actually find much "Treasure" (in the English/Welsh legal definition as opposed to the Scottish one). Since the introduction of the Act we have only had one occurrence where "Treasure" was found (and we have done a large number of projects since that date).
But hey, Gary, don't let the fact that the stats are likely to be a true reflection of the situation in professional archaeology get in the way of touting this around the 'other forums' to which you allude.