France: Promotion of Archaeological Heritage

Introduction

The conservation of archaeological remains in France is part of a process of heritage promotion and education. It is also directly involved in the Tourism sector of the territories and their reputation.

As they are often called upon by heritage preservation associations and the public at the time of discovery and relayed by the media, these presentations of archaeological remains have always been exceptional for various reasons: the exhumed remains are extremely fragile, their readability is complicated by the superposition of remnants over many periods, the costs of investment and maintenance are very high, and they are incompatible with development plans.

Definition

We can estimate that in France the number of surveys leading to a sustainable promotion, in one form or another, of substantial archaeological heritage is in the low hundred. In the sites corpus, we can distinguish between two main types: open-air sites and crypts.

Within these groups, there are sites where...