Archaeological Remains as Limited Resources

Archaeological remains are a limited, finite and non-renewable resource, in many cases highly fragile and vulnerable to damage and destruction. Appropriate management is therefore essential to ensure that they survive in good condition. In particular, care must be taken to ensure that archaeological remains are not needlessly or thoughtlessly damaged or destroyed. They can contain irreplaceable information about our past and the potential for an increase in future knowledge, which, once destroyed, cannot be replaced. They are part of our sense of place and are valuable both for their own sake and for their role in education, leisure and tourism. The surroundings of any site or monument can provide further evidence about why that particular location was chosen for use and how it was used. Such information can come from below-ground remains or other sites or monuments. Protecting sites and monuments and their settings is therefore the means of maximising survival of information about our past.