October 11, 2010

Stupid British law hinders the work of archaeologists

A decision to implement the obsolete Burial Act of 1857 to the context of archaeological research, taken in 2008 by the previous government, is causing upheaval among British archaeologists.

The law establishes that all digs of burial grounds be screened from the view of the public and worse: that all remains must be reburied within two years. 

Scientists are not happy with either measure. Screening from the public view hinders the openness and public access that most of them want for their work (and may get the public suspicious) but the obligation to rebury in a cemetery archaeological remnants that could well be producing results many years, or even decades after their discovery is plainly idiotic.

Full story at The Guardian. Originally found at Archaeology in Europe.

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