Head: PhDr. Jiří Doležel

Specialist: Mgr. Lenka Macháňová; Mgr. Bc. Eva Mariánusová Juhaňáková

 

 

 

Archaeological monuments are a unique, irreplaceable and definitive source of information for knowing the cultural past of the territory of the present-day Czech Republic and as such are part of both our national and global cultural heritage, to the protection of which the greatest of attention should be paid. Unfortunately they are also among the monuments most under threat, both in respect of intensive construction work and because of excavations or surveys conducted without authorisation and a lack of public awareness. The whole territory of our republic has archaeological finds, except for those places already exhausted or otherwise demonstrably devalued. From a legislative point of view care of our archaeological heritage is covered both by international conventions, in particular in the Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (the Malta Convention), as well as by our national Act on State Monument Care (No. 20/1987 Coll., as amended).

 

From the very beginning the Academy of Sciences Institute of Archaeology was established to act as a central archaeological facility for the whole of Moravia and Czech Silesia, with the role of lead expert arbitrator. In the sphere of monument protection for archaeological sites and finds it therefore functions as an expert specialist organisation duly authorised under the law, participating in executing state administration and ensuring care for the archaeological cultural heritage of the Moravian-Silesian region. In accordance with §22, para. 2 of Act No. 20/1987 Coll. builders are obliged to inform the Institute of their intention to build on territory containing archaeological findings. It also conducts consulting and advisory activities in the area of archaeology and archaeological monument care, with the status of official expert for the field of archaeology. And finally, the Institute in accordance with §3 of Act No. 20/1987 Coll. submits to the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Czech Ministry of Culture proposals to have archaeological finds declared cultural monuments.

 

The Archaeological Monument Care Department thus functions mainly as a distributor for key information on territories with archaeological finds, both in respect of organisations and persons outside the archaeological community (designers, builders, government offices/departments, state and local authority bodies) and in respect of individual authorised archaeological institutions, which it advises of locations currently under threat. An obvious part of this official procedure is the development of assessments and the issuing of standpoints for the needs of construction projects and their associated administrative proceedings. Expert employees of the Department also express their view on the protection of the archaeological heritage for the needs of state and local opinions were prepared, for the period from 2005 - 2009 this was some 2905 reference items). The aim of these endeavours is mainly to record construction work and other incursions onto land authorities and other bodies, in the form of experts' reports (for example, in 2009 over 860 expert containing archaeological finds during the preparation phase, so that any position which is archaeologically significant can be expertly documented and recovered in time. Other statements are directed at further aspects of monument protection for archaeological locations and finds: the quantification of their value, estimates of damage caused by undeclared construction work, assessments for the securing of individual monuments and the preparation of proposals for their protection for the Czech Ministry of Culture.

 

In the fields of archaeology and archaeological monument care the Czech Academy of Sciences Institute of Archaeology also coordinates all research activities on the territory of Moravia and Czech Silesia. This is done mainly through regional archaeological commissions set up by the Institute and other authorised organisations in each of the regions and dealing comprehensively with any issue associated with protective archaeological research in the areas in question. A group of five of these commissions for the Jihomoravský, Zlínský, Olomoucký, Moravskoslezský and Vysočina regions has since 1994 distributed among individual authorised archaeological organisations all rescue research in sites under threat from construction work, supervised the professional quality of execution of such research and resolved any disputed cases.  And finally, through the Archaeological Monument Care Department, the Institute oversees adherence under Act No. 20/1987 Coll. to agreements reached with the Czech Academy of Sciences by individual organisations authorised under Czech Ministry of Culture licence to conduct archaeological research.

 

With the Institute of Archaeology the Archaeological Monument Care Department fulfils the apparently low-profile, but important, function of protecting the system of protection for archaeological cultural heritage, which is part of the national memory. Awareness of it should not be allowed to disappear.

 

 

 

In accordance with Law No. 20/1987 Coll., on State Heritage Preservation, the purpose of regional archaeological committees is to coordinate archaeological research and the protection, rescue and documentation of archaeological monuments, archaeological find sites and areas containing archaeological finds.

 

 

Organisations authorised to carry out archaeological research in Moravia and Silesia have a permit from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and have concluded an Agreement on the Scope and Conditions Governing Archaeological Research, on the basis of Section 21, Paragraph 2 of Law No. 20/1987 Coll., on State Heritage Preservation, as amended, with the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

 

On the basis of the above documents authorised organisations are obliged to submit to the ARÚB Archive a Notification of the Commencement of Archaeological Research (OZAA), a Report on Archaeological Research (ZAA) and a Find Report. They must publish the results of archaeological research in the form of annual reports in the ARÚB periodical "Přehled výzkumů".