Tribune. Archeology is the science that studies past societies through their material remains. Along with history, it is one of the two fundamental means of acquiring knowledge about these societies, and even the only one for the – many – past peoples without writing. It allows us to understand the evolutions that have built the current world and its genesis over a long period of time. Still visible on the surface, buried in the ground or preserved under water, the archaeological remains are found and studied during excavation campaigns conducted by qualified researchers, with recognized skills, and all of whose work is controlled and validated by their peers. Far from the romantic or adventurous image conveyed by fiction, the archaeologist is a scientist, generally holding a master’s degree, often a doctorate, who coordinates an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional, often international research team.
In France, this research is organized into two main systems, inseparable and complementary. Preventive archeology works upstream of land development operations, as any intervention on national soil is likely to lead to the destruction of remains. It has its own sources of funding. Programmed archeology brings together operations carried out on the initiative of research teams, according to specific scientific issues, on sites with little or no threat, often in geographical areas little affected by development operations.
Volunteer diggers
The scheduled operations are mainly financed by the Ministry of Culture, in the form of annual subsidies. These remain modest, and it is not uncommon for the excavation of a site to be spread over ten years or more. Although representing only a tiny part of the ministry’s budget, around 0.4%, this system of national public financing, rare on a world scale and envied by many of our foreign colleagues, makes it possible to organize every year several hundred sites produce new knowledge, from ancient prehistory to modern times.
It was therefore with surprise and consternation that we learned that drastic reductions in these subsidies were going to be applied as of this year, of the order of −25% to −50%, depending on the region, while at the same time the ministry announces a 7.5% increase in its overall budget.
Decided in the most total opacity, including towards its own agents, and without any excavation manager being informed, such a budget cut will have multiple and disastrous consequences.
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