Those of us who have been following the debate about the Valleta
Convention and its implication for UK archaeology may recognise some
familiar arguments in this thread. The Valleta convention commits
national governments to protect archaeological sites. There was much
concern that it could be interpreted as outlawing amateur
archaeology. The Council for British Archaeology has campaigned
against such a strict interpretation, in recognition of the high
standard of work carried out by unpaid archaeologists in the UK. My
understanding is that this lobbying has been successful.

I think the key distinction is between good and bad archaeology.
This is not the same as professional versus amateur. In the late
1970s, conservation work was carried out at the 18th Century Bedlam
Furnaces in Shropshire; I am not sure who authorised the work but it
would either have been the local authority or a local
professionally-run museum. Unfortunately, no records were kept of the
work, so that when a few years ago, the building was re-evaluated,
the only way of identifying the modern restoration was to analyse
mortar samples. Sadly, I can think of a number of mining  sites where
I fear conservation undertaken on behalf of local authorities within
the last 5 years has almost certainly been done without adequate
recording.

As an amateur, I have recorded a number of surface sites to the best
of my ability. A number of these have now been destroyed. In spite of
my best efforts, none of the others have any kind of protection and I
suspect within the next 10 years it is likely that they will also
have been badly degraded. As far as I can see, the county archaeology
services lack the resources to deal with these sites; I lack the
resources to engage professional archaeology units. As a consequence,
the majority of these sites will either be recorded by amateurs or
not at all.

Ian is absolutely correct to insist on the highest practical
standards of recording and excavation and I do not doubt that much
damage has been caused in the examples that he quotes in France. I
suspect however, that the professional resources in France are
different to those available in the UK.

David Poyner