Archaeological Heritage, Scientific Recording, Remains and Destruction: a Look at a Complex Relationship

Abstract

Over the last two decades, Portuguese archaeology has experienced a significant increase in the volume of work, mainly related to the practice of so-called Preventive Archaeology and Impact Minimisation, developed contractually in the context of projects that could destroy archaeological assets. This increase in work has corresponded to an exponential increase in the volume of archaeological remains deposited at sites proposed or approved by the authorities, understood by its legal definition as the set of movable archaeological goods, such as artefacts, ecofacts and samples, together with the corresponding inventory and other documentation produced during field and office work, which is indispensable for the handling and understanding of the context to be preserved for future memory. Our experience as researchers studying and working with collections of archaeological remains leads us to question how we consider archaeological assets to be ‘national heritage’ under the law, and what their validity actually is as a ‘scientific record’ that can replace and justify the destruction of an archaeological asset.