Archaeology: Hidden treasure

A questão do tratamento da informação recolhida no âmbito dos trabalhos arqueológicos realizados nas diferentes fases de AIA é um problema que se está a colocar em vários países europeus...

Recentemente Richard Bradley comentou que o não conhecimento/avaliação da informação contida nos relatórios produzidos pela empresas que estão a executar trabalhos de minimização de impactes, o tinha levado, nos últimos tempos, a produzir um discurso desactualizado, nas suas aulas.

"(.../...) Bradley, a professor at the University of Reading, travelled around the country, visiting the offices of contract archaeological teams and local planning officials. There, he unearthed dozens of reports showing that settlements in England had remained strong during the Bronze Age and had not suffered a population crash, as academics had long thought.

"I became aware that what I was teaching would be out of date without looking at the grey literature," says Bradley.

For the past 20 years, Britain has been at the centre of a revolution in the funding and practice of archaeology. The shift was spurred by a 1990 change in policy that requires local governments to consider how construction projects will affect archaeological remains. That policy has essentially forced public and private entities to pay for archaeological assessments before they start laying a road, constructing an office building or engaging in other projects that disturb the ground.

In many ways the law has achieved its aim, helping to preserve relics that otherwise would have been destroyed. But at the same time, it has created problems for academics, who have struggled to keep up with the avalanche of new data, which some argue are hard to access.

Similar concerns have emerged in other countries that have enacted equivalent laws. But it's in the crowded British Isles — with its densely packed archaeological record and rapid pace of development — where the effect has been particularly profound.

"There is such a vast body of untapped stuff out there," says Barry Cunliffe, an emeritus professor of European archaeology at the University of Oxford. "This means there is a hold-up in academic development and the way in which the public are able to understand and appreciate archaeology."

Interessante artigo para ler e refletir, tanto mais que esta situação também se está a verificar em Portugal.