Archaeologists rejected the ministerial amendment to the heritage protection law

Prague - 150 academic, scientific, and professional workers engaged in archaeological research, including all Czech university professors of archaeology, reject the amendment to the heritage law in the form that the Ministry of Culture presents to the government. The text of the statement rejecting the amendment was provided to Czech News Agency today by its initiators.
    They are convinced that the adoption of legislative changes in their current form would lead to serious damage to archaeology as a scientific discipline. They also fear negative attention from abroad.
    According to the signatories, the amendment approaches archaeology, which is primarily a scientific field, as an activity mainly serving to expand the current heritage fund or to free up a certain area for builders. "Moreover, it opens up a huge and uncontrollable possibility for the misuse of financial resources intended for archaeological research to generate profit that does not have to be returned for the benefit of the field through support for research or popularization activities, but can be directed towards personal financial gain," the text states.
    Scientists have criticized the draft previously. According to the Ministry of Culture, the claim about a decrease in the scientific basis of archaeology has no substantive basis. In the current law, it is mentioned only marginally. "In this state, the proposed amendment not only cannot reduce the scientific nature of archaeological heritage care compared to the current, effectively unresolved state, but on the contrary, accepts its explicit anchoring," stated the ministry on its website in February.
    According to archaeologists, the proposal excludes the binding nature of expert opinions in decision-making, allegedly resigns on effective current control of the quality of field archaeological research and on the professional quality of the entities conducting it. Conversely, it allegedly paradoxically mandates bureaucratic control of research activities that are not related to the use of archaeological sources.
    Archaeologists are calling for the development of such legal regulation that would respect the scientific requirements of the field, ensure effective ongoing control of field research, define entities that can conduct research, limit the growth of bureaucracy, prevent research aimed at profit, and not contain erroneous or nonsensical provisions.