France to ratify the UNESCO Convention 2001

[Alexandre]

"Dear All

I am pleased to announce to you that France will ratify the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage in a very near future. That was a long debate in France and lengthy negotiations with all relevant ministries but finally the Convention will be ratified with the unanimous approval of all departments involved in this text. As a representative of the Ministry of Culture and Director of the National Department for underwater archaeology (Drassm) responsible, since 2006, for conducting the negotiations I am happy and proud to finally be able to share with you this information. France will act as a state party for the fourth session of the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention Best regards Michel

Michel L'Hour
Conservateur Général du Patrimoine.
Directeur du Département des Recherches Archéologiques Subaquatiques et Sous-Marines
Membre de l'Académie de Marine
Suivi des Affaires Internationales"

 

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[Zodiacdiverdave]

Howdy Alexandre, where have you been hiding my friend?
I know these are not your words and you no doubt feel the same as me with regard to the UNESCO Convention. I am not convinced that this accord is the way to go, salvors and archaeologists must find a way to work together for the good of all parties involved, including the general public. Leaving the wrecks underwater for eternity with very limited study or preservation will eventually result in the complete destruction of the site unless it is in the most protected areas. There are people that have found ways to recover costs and even make profit from the salvage of historical wrecks, while capturing all archaeological data using the best practices available. This is a WIN WIN situation.
ZDD

 

[VOC]

"Dear All

I am pleased to announce to you that France will ratify the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage in a very near future. That was a long debate in France and lengthy negotiations with all relevant ministries but finally the Convention will be ratified with the unanimous approval of all departments involved in this text. As a representative of the Ministry of Culture and Director of the National Department for underwater archaeology (Drassm) responsible, since 2006, for conducting the negotiations I am happy and proud to finally be able to share with you this information. France will act as a state party for the fourth session of the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention Best regards Michel

Michel L'Hour
Conservateur Général du Patrimoine.
Directeur du Département des Recherches Archéologiques Subaquatiques et Sous-Marines
Membre de l'Académie de Marine
Suivi des Affaires Internationales"

Good to see you back posting Alexandre.

It is a total irrelevance what countries do or do not ratify the convention anymore, as all it has stopped is Underwater Archaeology, and this only affects the jobs of underwater archaeologist.

Salvage and looting of our underwater heritage is going on apace and the only difference is it has now all gone underground and the authorities just don’t get to see what has been recovered.

As this is being done on the quiet and illegally, there is no incentive to record anything at all.

A country signing up to UNESCO is like a country signing up to a ban on drug taking, (ie: completely ineffectual without the resources to stop it).

Trawling, grabs and ROV’s are a much cheaper and quicker way of recovering wreck material than using divers and no government as a hope in hell of stopping it.

 

[Bum Luck]

Hopefully this will spell the end for marine archaeologists too, as there will be no navals to contemplate.

 

[Salvor6]

As a result of the UNESCO Convention, thousands of students choose not to pursue a career in archaeology. There will be no work for them!

Is the Study of Archaeology at Risk?
SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND—University of Sheffield historian Michael Braddick writes in The Guardian that the discovery of Richard III in the parking lot at the former site of Greyfriars was a testament to "the power of archaeological techniques." The demonstration, he says, stands in stark contrast to university archaeology departments in the U.K., which are suffering from lack of undergraduate interest and, thus, funds. He laments that, given recent shifts in the U.K.'s education policy, the study of archaeology and certain languages, such as Russian, German, and Portuguese, will likely be scaled back in the future. "A likely outcome of this is that there will be reduction in national capacity in archaeology, and particularly in expensive archaeological science," Braddick opines. "We will all be the poorer for that."