ABSTRACT
The advocacy of preserving archaeological sites in situ has been politically galvanized internationally and certainly within Europe through a number of conventions: the European Convention for the Protection of Archaeological Heritage 1969 (The London Convention), updated in 1992 as the Valetta Convention.1 The treaty aims to protect the European archaeological heritage ‘as a source of European collective memory and as an instrument for historical and scientifi c study. All remains and objects and any other traces of humankind from past times are considered elements of the archaeological heritage. The notion of archaeological heritage includes structures, constructions, groups of buildings, developed sites, moveable objects, monuments of other kinds as well as their context, whether situated on land or under water’. In particular, Articles 4ii and 5vii respectively seek the conservation and maintenance of archaeological heritage preferably in situ and to make provisions for in situ conservation, when feasible, in connection with building/development work. In terms of underwater archaeology, the Annex (General principles, Rule 1) of the international 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage2 recommends that the protection of underwater cultural heritage through in situ preservation shall be considered as the fi rst option.
