ABSTRACT
Environmental assessment is a term used to describe a technique for examining the likely effects of new development on the environment. Originating from a Directive of the European Commission in June 1985 (85,337, EEC) the process is essentially a technique for bringing expert quantitative analysis and qualitative assessment of the environmental effects of a project together, and presenting the results in a way which enables the importance of the predicted effects to be properly evaluate before a decision is made (DoE, 1988a). It can include an examination of the effect of new development on archaeology.
