Annual meetings
Development-led archaeology in Europe
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Meeting the needs of archaeologists, developers and the public
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The 19th Annual Meeting of the EAC was hosted by the National Archaeological Institute with Museum - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NAIM-BAS) at the Arena di Serdica Hotel in Sofia, Bulgaria.
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EAC wants to make a contribution to the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, by organizing its annual Symposium on a topic which is closely related to the objectives of this initiative. It is appropriate to gather in Bulgaria, the country which is chairing the European Union in the first half of 2018.
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Development-led archaeology (preventive archaeology) has taken over almost all archaeological excavations in Europe. It is estimated, that in many European countries, as much as 80-90% of excavations are now development-led and in some countries close to 100%.
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In 2015 the EAC Symposium concentrated on development led archaeology under the title When Valletta meets Faro. The reality of European archaeology in the 21st century. The symposium´s three sessions presented the different legal and organisational models across Europe, analysed the practical outcomes of different rescue archaeology solutions and the final session focused on how to assure quality of research and ensure lasting public benefit.
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The 2017 symposium was also in part linked to development-led archaeology. The title of the symposium was Dare to Choose: Making Choices in Archaeological Heritage Management and it concentrated on the decision making mechanisms and actions from mainly the heritage management viewpoint.
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One of the subthemes of the Amersfoort Agenda published after the EAC Symposium in 2014 (Theme 1. The Spirit of the Faro Convention: embedding archaeology in society) was: Know the public: analyse the wants, interests and expectations of stakeholders in society regarding their involvement in archaeology, preferably through interactions with theses stakeholders.
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In the 2018 Heritage Management Symposium, the idea is therefore to look at the topic of development-led archaeology from a different angle and open up a discussion between the heritage management officials, the developers, the archaeologists working in the field and the public. How can we meet the needs of these very different stakeholders and do we always need to? How do politics affect the archaeological heritage management and the different stakeholders? How can they in turn affect politics and politicians?
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This topic is also relevant in view of the decision of the European Parliament and the Council to make 2018 the European Year of Cultural Heritage with the aim of raising awareness as well as drawing attention to the opportunities offered by cultural heritage. In other words to reflect on the place that cultural heritage occupies in all our lives.
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The Symposium will last one and a half days (22 and 23 March) and will consist of three presentation sessions followed by discussions – including questions and comments from the floor. Each presenter will propose actions as part of their presentation/paper.
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​19th Annual Meeting
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March 22-24, 2018 (Arena di Serdica Hotel, Sofia, Bulgaria)
Downloads​
SOFIA 2018
19th Annual Meeting
Pictures