In 2019, the European working group CEN/TC 346/WG 14 “Monitoring of archaeological deposits” joined the standardization commission “Conservation of cultural heritage” (CNCBC) created in 2004. Public and private professionals as well as archaeological research volunteers are all concerned by the future standard about managing archaeological deposits. That’s why ArkéoTopia, another way for archeology® joined the European working group in December.

Participate in the European working group
CEN/TC 346/WG 14
about monitoring of archaeological deposits

The Working Group 14 (WG14) origin

Upon request of Norwegian research actors to work on monitoring of archaeological deposits within the European standard WI 00346051 “Investigation and monitoring of cultural deposits for preservation in situ”, was born the European working group CEN/TC 346/WG 14 “Monitoring of archaeological deposits”. ArkéoTopia, another way for archeology® joined it in December 2019 to represent the interests of archaeological research and to better mobilize French and European archeological research actors.

Public and private professionals as well as archaeological research volunteers, the future standard for the monitoring of archaeological deposits concerns all of us. Let’s participate!

The context – Why this commission?

In 2018, the standardization commission “Conservation of cultural heritage” (CNCBC) was created in order to work on:

• the terminology of movable and immovable cultural heritage, its conservation and its constituent materials,
• the knowledge methodology of cultural heritage, its constituent materials, its deterioration processes and conditions for optimal long-term conservation,
• test and analysis methods for the diagnosis and the characterization of cultural heritage as the state of conservation depending internal and external environmental conditions,
• laboratory and in situ test and analysis methods to evaluate the products and methodologies performance during conservation intervention,
• methods relative to the transport and packaging of cultural heritage.

The working groups

The standardization commission AFNOR/CNCBC “Conservation of cultural heritage” is matching to the European Committee for Standardization CEN/TC 346 “Conservation of cultural heritage”.

To fulfill this objective, the commission has been divided into 10 working groups that work in an interdisciplinary manner and that stated as follows:

• CEN/TC 346/WG 1 – General guidelines and terminology
• CEN/TC 346/WG 3 – Conservation works
• CEN/TC 346/WG 9 – Waterlogged wood
• CEN/TC 346/WG 10 – Historic timber structures
• CEN/TC 346/WG 11 – Conservation processes
• CEN/TC 346/WG 12 – Showcases for cultural heritage exhibitions
• CEN/TC 346/WG 13 – Investigation of architectural finishes – results methodology and documentation
• CEN/TC 346/WG 14 – Monitoring of archaeological deposits
• CEN/TC 346/WG 15 – Exhibition lighting of cultural heritage
• CEN/TC 346/WG 16 – Specifications for the movable cultural heritage management

As an archeological research organization, why is ArkéoTopia participating?

As an archeological research organization, ArkéoTopia intention is

1. to ensure the legal questions respect at national level
2. to ensure the existing archeological terminology use within the standard
3. to ensure that organizations representing archeology at European and international levels are mentioned
4. to facilitate the establishment of characterization criteria of a cultural deposit as asked in Annex B – Example of the characterization of the state of the preservation in a cultural deposit
5. to ensure the establishment of a high-quality bibliography that can be used as a reference for other standards and for the team in charge of the present document revision

In addition, if all sub-groups do not specifically concern archeological research, this standard is an opportunity to exchange with conservation specialists about the needs to intervene on site during programmed as well as preventive excavations..

Calendar

• 3rd July – 7th August 2020: Circulation of the document for comments within Working Group 14 – Monitoring of archaeological deposits
• 24th August – 2nd October 2020: Circulation of the new amended document to include the propositions of each national groups
• 26th October 2020: Videoconference of Working Group 14 to validate comments
• 6th December 2021: Videoconference of Working Group 14 to validate draft-standard and launch the public consultation
• Public consultation does not yet have a fixed date.
• La Publication of the standard “Monitoring of archaeological deposit” is expected at the end of 2022

Contacts

Svitlana GRAND-CHAVIN – standardization project manager at AFNOR
11, rue Francis de Pressensé 93571 La Plaine Saint-Denis Cedex (France)
svitlana.grandchavin@afnor.org – 01 41 62 83 86 – www.afnor.org

Dr. Jean-Olivier GRANSARD-DESMOND – Archeologist
06 67 80 48 10 – Form to write to the research department
MdA7-ArkéoTopia 4 rue Amélie 75007 Paris (France)

To find out more…

• Presentation of the CEN/TC 346 – prEN 17652 page on Investigation and monitoring of archaeological deposits for preservation in situ
• Presentation of the Standardization of Cultural Heritage Conservation (CEN/TC 346 AFNOR CNCBC)