Following the partition of Ireland into Northern Ireland and Saorstát Eireann in 1921, the two separate legislative jurisdictions replaced the existing Ancient Monuments Protection (Ireland) Act of 1882 with the Ancient Monuments Act (Northern Ireland) 1926 and the National Monuments Act 1930, respectively. The following paper outlines the development of heritage legislation on both sides of the border, dealing first with Northern Ireland, then with the Republic of Ireland. In this context, the existing legislation and environmental archaeology are discussed.
The following paper details the development of the legislative instruments relevant to archaeology in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The background to the legislation has been outlined elsewhere (e.g. An Roinn Ealaíon, Oidhreacta, Gaeltachta agus Oileán 1999, 15–21; Brannon 2002), and is reproduced here for ease of reference. The impact of such legislation on environmental archaeology is examined, both in the context of its protection and policy against the reality of its practice, particularly with regard to excavation. The evolution of the legislation and its current status is central to understanding its influence on the practice of environmental archaeology in Ireland.
In Northern Ireland the 1882 Act was replaced in 1926 by the Ancient Monuments Act (Northern Ireland) 1926. This included definitions of ‘monument’ and ‘ancient monument’, provision for the guardianship of monuments, an Ancient Monuments Advisory Committee, penalties for damage to monuments, preservation orders for threatened monuments and provision to acquire monuments by gift or deed. Under the law, the discovery of an ‘archaeological object’ was to be reported to the Ancient Monuments Advisory Committee within 14 days. An ‘archaeological object’ was defined as having an archaeological value greater than its intrinsic value. The Act had no effect on ‘treasure trove’.
The Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, Belfast Naturalists Field Club, Deputy Keeper of the Records of Northern Ireland, Ministry of Education, Queen’s University Belfast, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Royal Irish Academy and the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland all supplied representatives for the Ancient Monuments Advisory Committee.
In 1937, the Ancient Monuments Act (Northern Ireland) 1926 was amended. The new Ancient Monuments Act (Northern Ireland) 1937 provided for powers of entry to lands and re-named the Ancient Monuments Advisory Committee as the Ancient Monuments Advisory Council and made provision for extending membership to include museum curators. Under the amendment, a provision was introduced that made excavation for archaeological purposes subject to the issuing of a licence by the Ministry of Finance. In 1950 the first government archaeological survey was commissioned with the appointment of two professional archaeologists (Hamlin 1992, 41). The results of the survey of County Down saw publication in 1966, although no further county surveys have been published to date.
In 1971 the Historic Monuments Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 was passed. This superseded existing legislation with several amendments and additional provisions. It introduced powers for protection orders and the compulsory acquisition of monuments, allowed for the scheduling of historic monuments in private ownership, introduced the requirement to provide notice of works on scheduled monuments and established an advisory Historic Monuments Council.
Following the introduction of direct rule from the Westminister Parliament in 1972, the functions of the Historic Monuments Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 passed to the Department of the Environment with the Archaeological Survey evolving into the Historic Monuments and Buildings Branch of the Department. The Protection of Wrecks Act 1973, which affected historic wrecks, was administered through the Department of the Environment. Legislation of great relevance to heritage protection policy was enacted in 1991 as the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, with the policy outlined in A Planning Strategy for Rural Northern Ireland in 1993. In the same year, all built heritage data was made publicly accessible through the Monuments and Buildings Record under the directive Access to Environmental Information Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993.
In 1995 the current legislation, the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, came into force. This added a provision of scheduled monument consent, requiring consent for any works that might affect a scheduled monument. Within the Order the term ‘archaeological object’ is defined as:
‘any object, being a chattel (whether in a manufactured or unmanufactured state), which is, or appears to be, of archaeological or historical interest and which has, by reason of such interest, a value substantially greater than its intrinsic value or the value of the materials of which it is composed’.
Under the Order, a monument is defined as:
‘(a) any building, structure or works, whether above or below the surface of the land, and any cave or excavation; (b) any site comprising the remains of any such building, structure or works or of any cave or excavation; and (c) any site comprising, or comprising the remains of, any vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other movable structure or part thereof which neither constitutes nor forms part of anything which is a monument within sub-paragraph (a); and any machinery attached to a monument shall be regarded as part of the monument if it could not be detached without being dismantled’.
The Merchant Shipping Act 1995 allowed the Receiver of Wrecks to administer archaeological materials recovered from a maritime context. In 1996, the Treasure Act 1996 was passed, with a parliamentary code of practice specifically for Northern Ireland. In the same year, the Environment and Heritage Service took over some of the functions of the Department of the Environment (known as the Environment Service from 1990). There are three directorates within the Environment and Heritage Service: Environmental Protection, Natural Heritage, and, Built Heritage. Built Heritage is the current government department with responsibility for the identification, recording and protection of the built, buried and underwater remains of human activity, from prehistoric times to the present. Currently, the most relevant statement of heritage protection policy is Planning Policy Statement No. 6: Planning, Archaeology and the Built Heritage (generally known as PPS6). This document, published in 1999, sets out the criteria for listing and scheduling of buildings and monuments. PPS6 provided for the protection of built heritage within the framework of the development control process.
The European Convention on the Protection of Archaeological Heritage (1992) was ratified in 2000 and is generally known as the Valletta Convention. The Countryside Management Scheme was also introduced in 2000 following the enactment of Council Regulation (EC) Number 1257/1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and amending and repealing certain legislation. This includes a series of habitats such as wetlands, moorlands, lowland raised bog, land adjacent to lakes as well as archaeological features. The inclusion of many of the former allows for the protection of many sensitive archaeological features and structures by default (Foley 2002, 121). Currently, rescue and mitigation excavations in Northern Ireland are licensed under the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and are, as such, subject to ‘licence to excavate’ conditions (Brannon 2002, 496).
The Oireachtas of Saorstát Eireann replaced the pre-existing Ancient Monuments Protection (Ireland) Act of 1882 with the National Monuments Act 1930 whose functions fell upon the Commissioners of Public Works (now the Office of Public Works). This defined a monument as including:
‘any artificial or partly artificial building, structure, or erection whether above or below the surface of the ground and whether affixed or not affixed to the ground and any cave, stone, or other natural product whether forming part of or attached to or not attached to the ground which has been artificially carved, sculptured or worked upon or which (where it does not form part of the ground) appears to have been purposely put or arranged in position and any prehistoric or ancient tomb, grave or burial deposit, but does not include any building which is for the time being habitually used for ecclesiastical purposes’.
It also defined the expression archaeological object to mean:
‘any chattel whether in a manufactured or partly manufactured or an unmanufactured state which by reason of the archaeological interest attaching thereto or of its association with any Irish historical event or person has a value substantially greater than its intrinsic (including artistic) value, and the said expression includes ancient human and animal remains and does not include treasure trove in which the rights of the State have not been waived’.
The Act allowed for the establishment of a National Monuments Advisory Council and allowed for monuments to be taken into guardianship either by the state or the relevant local authority. This provision included agreements with regard to either inheritance of such monuments or compulsory purchase. Injury to such monuments was prohibited under the Act, and provision was included for preservation orders to be made where necessary, although they required ratification by the Oireachtas within 21 days. The Act also allowed for the creation, by a local authority, of a local advisory committee of the National Monuments Advisory Council. The Act made provision for the maintenance of public access to the monuments in state or local authority guardianship and required the discovery of archaeological objects to be reported to the Gárda Síochána on duty in the district in which an object was found or the Keeper of Irish Antiquities in the National Museum within 14 days. The export or alteration of such archaeological objects was also regulated under the Act, as was excavation for archaeological purposes.
With regard to excavation, any alteration of a National Monument was deemed illegal, unless carried out with the written consent of the Commissioners of Public Works. The Act also stated that:
‘… it shall not be lawful for any person, without or otherwise than in accordance with a licence issued by the Commissioners under this section, to dig or excavate in or under any land (whether with or without removing the surface of the land) for the purpose of searching generally for archaeological objects or of searching for, exposing or examining any particular structure or thing of archaeological interest …’.
Further provision was included that would allow the Commissioners to add ‘…conditions and restrictions as they shall think proper …’ to such a licence.
In a review of legislation, following the establishment of the Republic of Ireland in 1949, several additions and changes were made to the National Monuments Act 1930, known as the National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1954. This included provisions for temporary preservation orders, unlicensed excavations where there is an imminent threat to a monument or archaeological object and the publication of lists of National Monuments in Iris Oifigiúil. There were also several minor alterations to the 1930 Act, with regard to the composition of the National Monuments Advisory Council and allowing for the removal of a National Monument to another location.
While the Ordnance Survey had carried out a megalithic survey, beginning in 1949, with its first two volumes published in 1961 and 1964, field survey by the Office of Public Works was begun in the late 1960s although no results were published (Haworth 1975). Despite the provision for the publication of lists of National Monuments in Iris Oifigiúil in the 1954 Amendment, there was not a statutory requirement for the publication of archaeological surveys. In 1982, however, the Minister for Finance made provision for the Commissioners of Public Works to initiate and publish countrywide surveys and to compile a Sites and Monuments Record (Power 1993, 137).
In 1987, a further amendment was made to the existing legislation with the National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1987. The Act included provision for new definitions, such as ‘archaeological areas’, defined as:
‘an area which the Commissioners consider to be of archaeological importance but does not include the area of a historic monument standing entered in the Register’
and a new definition of the term historic monument to include:
‘a prehistoric monument and any monument associated with the commercial, cultural, economic, industrial, military, religious or social history of the place where it is situated or of the country and also includes all monuments in existence before 1700 A.D. or such later date as the Minister may appoint by regulations’.
The 1987 Amendment included restrictions on the use of detection devices, provision for historic wrecks, and the enactment of a Historic Monuments Council to advise the minister on the execution of his/her powers.
The 1987 Amendment further revised the existing definitions in the 1930 Act and 1954 Amendments. The definition of monument was extended to include:
‘the following, whether above or below the surface of the ground or the water and whether affixed or not affixed to the ground–(a) any artificial or partly artificial building, structure or erection or group of such buildings, structures or erections, (b) any cave, stone or other natural product, whether or not forming part of the ground, that has been artificially carved, sculptured or worked upon or which (where it doesnot form part of the place where it is) appears to have been purposely put or arranged in position, (c) any, or any part of any, prehistoric or ancient–(i) tomb, grave or burial deposit, or (ii) ritual, industrial or habitation site, and (d) any place comprising the remains or traces of any such building, structure or erection, any such cave, stone or natural product or any such tomb, grave, burial deposit or ritual, industrial or habitation site, situated on land or in the territorial waters of the State, but does not include any building, or part of any building, that is habitually used for ecclesiastical purposes’.
In 1994, the Act was further amended with the National Monuments Amendment Act 1994. This included a provision for the state’s ownership of archaeological objects. The definition of archaeological objects was further revised by the Heritage Act, 1995. In this Act:
‘… archaeological object means any chattel whether in a manufactured or partly manufactured or an unmanufactured state which by reason of the archaeological interest attaching thereto or of its association with any Irish historical event or person has a value substantially greater than its intrinsic (including artistic) value, and the said expression includes ancient human, animal or plant remains’.
The Act included a definition of the term ‘archaeology’ as:
‘the study of past human societies, either as a whole or of various aspects of them, through the material remains left by those societies and the evidence of their environment, and includes the study of, searching and prospecting for:
(a) archaeological objects, (b) monuments, (c) buildings, or parts of any buildings, habitually used for ecclesiastical purposes, (d) landscapes, (e) seascapes, (f) wrecks, (g) climatological, ecological, geological or pedological factors which may be relevant to the understanding of past human societies or the distribution or nature of any of the foregoing’.
Two years later the National Cultural Institutions Act, 1997 was passed and included the definition of an archaeological object as to include ‘… ancient human, animal or plant remains’. In the same year the European Convention on the Protection of Archaeological Heritage (1992) was ratified by the Oireachtas. This required that steps were taken by the state to ensure that excavations and prospections be carried out using non-destructive methods where possible, and that excavations be carried out by qualified authorised persons.
In 1998, the government’s various natural and built heritage functions were brought together within the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands under the aegis of Dúchas–the Heritage Service. In the same year, the Turf Development Act, 1998 included Article 56: ‘The Company and each subsidiary shall ensure that its activities are so conducted as to afford appropriate protection for the environment and the archaeological heritage’. Legal protection and a statutory basis for various inventories of monuments and buildings were provided for under the 1999 Architectural Heritage (National Inventory) and Historic Monuments (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1999.
Since June 2003, responsibility for built heritage in the Republic of Ireland was brought under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
As the previous sections have demonstrated, the existing legislative apparatus in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland provides little specific provisions with regard to ‘environmental archaeology’. To understand the position of environmental archaeology within the available legislative instruments, it is necessary to examine where heritage legislation is relevant to the protection, retention and study of the materials required for the practice of environmental archaeology.
In Northern Ireland the definition of an archaeological object under the 1995 Order includes:
‘any object, being a chattel (whether in a manufactured or unmanufactured state), which is, or appears to be, of archaeological or historical interest and which has, by reason of such interest, a value substantially greater than its intrinsic value or the value of the materials of which it is composed’.
Under this definition, a case could be made for this definition to include any and all archaeological materials under the criterion ‘unmanufactured state’ as qualified by ‘… of archaeological interest … substantially greater than its intrinsic value …’. As archaeological excavation is carried out under licence in Northern Ireland, the retention of suitable materials for study can be considered as being addressed in the advice notes on sampling in the Environment and Heritage Services Excavations Standards Manual (Archaeological Excavation Unit 2000, 13). The study of environmental archaeology itself, and the application of relevant techniques, are moderated by peer review rather than any legislative provision.
In the Republic of Ireland the definition of an archaeological object has incorporated specific reference to ‘plant remains’ since the 1994 Amendment, which contains the definition of ‘archaeology’ as including:
‘climatological, ecological, geological or pedological factors which may be relevant to the understanding of past human societies or the distribution or nature of any of the foregoing’.
This definition implicitly recognises environmental archaeology as being intrinsic to the ‘study of past human societies’ and provides it with a specific constitutional basis. Under the EC directive Council Regulation (EC) Number 1257/1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and amending and repealing certain legislation and the Turf Development Act, 1998, legislative provision can be claimed for areas, such as wetlands, of particular significance to environmental archaeology.
As archaeological excavation is carried out under licence in the Republic of Ireland, the retention of suitable materials for study can be considered as being regulated through the general protection afforded to archaeological materials under the National Monuments Amendment Act 1994. As in Northern Ireland, the study of environmental archaeology and the application of relevant techniques is moderated by peer review rather than any legislative provision.
The legislative framework for archaeology in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is reasonably similar and has developed along parallel lines. The definitions of terms such as ‘monument’ and ‘archaeological object’ are more or less the same in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, although the definition of ‘archaeological object’ in the latter also explicitly refers to materials that relate to ‘climatological, ecological, geological or pedological factors’. In both jurisdictions, regulation of the collection of the materials required for the practice of environmental archaeology is provided by the licensing system for archaeological excavations.
Archaeology has developed along similar lines in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland since the failure to extend the brief of the Royal Commission to Ireland in 1908. This act retarded the development of archaeological surveys in both jurisdictions after partition since the existing status quo was largely maintained (Power 1993, 137). While an archaeological survey was initiated in Northern Ireland in 1950, it has as yet only produced a single county volume. This situation is in contrast to the archaeological survey in the Republic of Ireland, which has produced a series of volumes since 1982, although a substantial number of these are inventories and some have been independently produced.
A licensing system for excavations was developed on both sides of the border, under the National Monuments Act 1930 in the Republic of Ireland and the Ancient Monuments Act (Northern Ireland) 1937 in Northern Ireland. Within this system, applicants must provide a method statement outlining their proposed excavation strategy. In both jurisdictions, the licensing system is the most effective regulatory apparatus for establishing baseline standards for excavation. The scope and number of licensed excavations has increased exponentially, from 13 in Northern Ireland and 110 in the Republic of Ireland in 1990, to 67 in Northern Ireland and 1030 in the Republic of Ireland in 2000.
This is significant since the majority of these excavations arise from the ‘polluter pays’ principle of developer funding. Under the planning process in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the identification of a threat to archaeological materials, and the subsequent issuing of planning permission subject to certain conditions, is the primary mechanism by which excavations are initiated. In both instances, the regulatory authorities (Environment and Heritage Service: Built Heritage and the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government) are responsible for overseeing this process. While the polluter pays principle is in effect in the Republic of Ireland (as it is in England under PPG16 and under regional variants in Scotland and Wales), ambiguities in Planning Policy Statement No. 6: Planning, Archaeology and the Built Heritage have presented difficulties in extending this principle to Northern Ireland. The result of this has been the relative disparity in excavations between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, although, how far this reflects differing rates of development is unknown. Neither, has an estimate been made of the relative success of each regulatory mechanism for ensuring that adequate provision is made for archaeological materials during the planning process.
Where a licence application has taken place in the Republic of Ireland, the inclusion of environmental archaeology is implicit, but not explicit, within this process. In the consultation document–New initiatives for procedures and practices in archaeological licensing–no direct reference is made to environmental archaeology in the Method Statement Template, yet the Site Visit Checklist includes specific questions with regard to the presence of organic remains and whether environmental samples are being taken (Dúchas 2001, 56).
In Northern Ireland, in the Environment and Heritage Services excavations manual it is stated that: ‘The decision to sample will rest with the excavator and/or the environmental co-ordinator, possibly implementing a sampling strategy agreed in advance’ (Archaeological Excavation Unit 2000, 13). It also lists categories of specialist disciplines a director may need to call upon, including animal bone, human remains, soil analysis and wood analysis (Archaeological Excavation Unit 2000, 15). In the context of environmental archaeology, it is notable that pollen analysis, plant macrofossil analysis (charred/ waterlogged), mollusc analysis and insect analysis are absent from this list.
The problems of adequate reporting of excavation results should briefly be addressed at this point, particularly with reference to studies that seek to establish the amount of unpublished material (Lambrick and Doyle 2000). While the process of enumerating the level of unpublished excavation reports in Ireland has begun, there has been no monitoring of the scope of unpublished reports relevant to environmental archaeology. As such, no assessment can be made of the extent of good practice, with regard to environmental archaeology, and general archaeological excavation strategies as agreed during the licensing process. Such an assessment would require an understanding of both the potential for environmental study as presented by the archaeological materials present, and, a measure of the extent to which such work was actually undertaken. This study is needed to substantiate any claims with regard to effectiveness, or otherwise, of both the existing legislation and its primary regulatory apparatus, the licensing system, for the practice of environmental archaeology in Ireland.
In summary, it must be noted that while technical and academic standards in environmental archaeology in Ireland can be adequately moderated through peer review and debate, the legislative protection given to the materials of most interest to such work is explicit in the Republic of Ireland but non-specific in Northern Ireland. In both jurisdictions, the licensing system for archaeological excavations provides a safety net whereby threats to soils and other materials that can be employed in environmental archaeology studies can be identified and mitigated. The legal impetus to engage in the study of environmental archaeology as part of this work lies solely with the conditions under which the licences for archaeological excavation are issued.
Pre-partition
— Ancient Monuments Protection (Ireland) Act of 1882
Northern Ireland: 1921–present
— Ancient Monuments Act (Northern Ireland) 1926
— Ancient Monuments Act (Northern Ireland) 1937
— Historic Monuments Act (Northern Ireland) 1971
— Protection of Wrecks Act 1973
— Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991
— A Planning Strategy for Rural Northern Ireland in 1993
— Access to Environmental Information Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993
— Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995
— Merchant Shipping Act 1995
— Treasure Act 1996
— Planning Policy Statement No. 6: Planning, Archaeology and the Built Heritage
— Regulation (EC) Number 1257/1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and amending and repealing certain legislation
Saorstát Eireann/Irish Free State: 1921–1937;
Éire: 1937–1949;
The Republic of Ireland: 1949–present
— National Monuments Act 1930
— National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1954
— National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1987
— European Convention on the Protection of Archaeological Heritage (1992)
— National Monuments Amendment Act 1994
— Heritage Act, 1995.
— National Cultural Institutions Act, 1997
— Turf Development Act, 1998
— Architectural Heritage (National Inventory) and Historic Monuments (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1999
An Roinn Ealaíon, Oidhreacta, Gaeltachta agus Oileán 1999. Framework and Principles for the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage. Dublin: Stationery Office.
Archaeological Excavation Unit 2000. Excavations Standards Manual. Belfast: Environment and Heritage Service Publication Unit.
Brannon, N. 2002. The role of the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland archaeology. Antiquity 76, 493–7.
Dúchas 2001. New initiatives for procedures and practices in archaeological licensing. An Roinn Ealaíonn, Oidhreachta, Gaeltachta agus Oiléan consultation document.
Foley, C. 2002. The contribution of agricultural support measures to protecting the archaeological heritage of Northern Ireland, pp. 117–24 in Fairclough, G. and Rippon, S. (eds.), Europe’s Cultural Landscape: Archaeologists and Management of Change. Europa Archaeologiae Consilium, Occasional Paper 2, Council of Europe.
Hamlin, A. 1992. Archaeological survey in Northern Ireland, pp. 41–4 in Royal Commission on Historic Monuments (England), Inventories of monuments and historic buildings in Europe. Proceedings of the Colloquium Held in Oxford (England) in 1988. London: RCHME.
Haworth, R. 1975. Archaeological field survey in Ireland–past, present, future. Irish Archaeological Research Forum 2, 7–19.
Lambrick, G. and Doyle, I. W. 2000. Review of Archaeological Assessment and Monitoring Procedures in Ireland. Kilkenny: Heritage Council Publication.
Power, D. 1993. Archaeological survey in the Republic of Ireland and the Cork experience, pp. 137–9 in Shee Twohig, E. and Ronayne, M. (eds.), Past Perceptions: The Prehistoric Archaeology of South-West Ireland. Cork: Cork University Press.