“The bill to simplify economic life puts our archaeological heritage at risk”

Exactly one year ago , we expressed our shock at the statements made by the Minister of Culture, ^Ms. Rachida Dati, who stated that "we should not excavate for the sake of it" and that she preferred "to invest money in restoring heritage rather than digging a hole for the sake of digging a hole." She also stated, on X, that she wanted exemptions to be possible for archaeological regulations.

Let us recall that each year approximately 50,000 hectares (or 500 square kilometers) are "artificialized" for various constructions and developments, i.e. the surface area of ​​a French department every eight years. Due to a lack of resources, the archaeologists of the Ministry of Culture in the regions only prescribe preliminary surveys (or diagnostics) in about a quarter of the developments, i.e. approximately 2,000 operations carried out either by the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) or by archaeological services of local authorities. And, in only a quarter of this quarter are actual archaeological excavations carried out, which is equivalent to approximately 450 per year.

The average cost to the developer is 1% to 3% of the total development budget. This is the price to pay for the preservation of our archaeological heritage, under a law that was only passed in 2001, late compared to most European countries and after the massive destruction throughout the – poorly named in archaeology – “thirty glorious years.”

We were wrong to think, after the vote on the aforementioned 2001 law, that our heritage was now out of danger. The minister's declarations of April 2024 did not come alone. Shortly before, the Alpes-Maritimes MP Eric Ciotti had obtained from the prefect the cancellation of a diagnostic prescription order concerning future massive earthworks following the natural disaster which had ravaged the Vésubie valley , describing, on X, on January 22, this order as "grotesque and ridiculous (...) , written by technocrats disconnected from reality" .

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