That's a very relative question and also depends on who is paying
for it. If US government federal funds are involved it is 50+ years.
If the state of California funds are involved, its 100 years (and from
personal experience, I've seen a major California university
give up state and
federal funding on a project to avoid having to excavate a historic
period site dating from ca. 1880-1920.....). In Japan, I'm told anything
dating from the Meiji era and older.
Let's be pragmatic, since bureaucracies are funding the excavation in many
cases, there needs to be some rule of thumb. If you went and said "We'll
base it on public priority," then you'll get into an issue of developers
running massive ad campaigns to downplay the historical/archaeological
significance.
Just my 2 yen's worth this morning,
Best, Mark Hall
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