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The Valletta Convention |
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The Valletta Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage was promulgated at Valletta in Malta in 1992. This is a deeply worrying document, as Article 3 appears to set out to outlaw independent archaeology. However in Britain the then Conservative government failed to ratify it and it was only with the advent of a Socialist government that in 2000 it was finally ratified. This set the alarm bells ringing, particularly over Article 3 which appears to outlaw amateur archaeology, saying that the ‘excavation should only be undertaken by qualified specially authorised persons’. The Council
for Independent Archaeology therefore sent out an Open Letter
to the Government in Defence of Archaeology, and rapidly achieved
over 1,600 signatures. The Government replied that the wording
did not mean what it appeared to mean, and that the Government
did not believe that further legislation is needed. The CIA remains
deeply unhappy with this statement and is pressing the government
to make a formal Reservation with the Council of Europe as to
this article. The Council believes that the whole convention is
deeply flawed and in these pages seeks to analyse the convention
to demonstrate its weaknesses; we also provide the basic texts
about the Convention and the British Government's replies. |
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The background to the Convention FAQ - Questions and answers on the Convention, and its effects on archaeology in Britain. The 'Open Letter' to the Government in Defence of Archaeology Links to other sites |
The basic texts. The Valletta Convention(in full - Article 3 is the important one). The official Explanatory Report to the Convention English Heritage Press Release on the Convention, 20th March 2001. English Heritage Position Statement on the Valetta Convention, 18th July 2001 Our Response to the English Heritage Statement Licensing legislation in other countries - Ireland, Northern Ireland, and France |