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Valletta Treaty

Valletta Treaty (or Malta Treaty)
European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (Revised)
Signed 16 January 1992
Location Valletta
Effective 25 May 1995
Condition 4 ratifications
Parties 45
Depositary Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Language English and French

The Valletta Treaty (formally the European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (Revised), also known as the Malta Convention) is a multilateral treaty of the Council of Europe. The 1992 treaty aims to protect the European archaeological heritage "as a source of European collective memory and as an instrument for historical and scientific study". All remains and objects and any other traces of humankind from past times are considered to be elements of the archaeological heritage. The archaeological heritage shall include structures, constructions, groups of buildings, developed sites, moveable objects, monuments of other kinds as well as their context, whether situated on land or under water." (Art. 1)

The Valletta Convention is an international legally binding treaty within Europe. It places the revised Convention in the framework of activities of the Council of Europe concerning the cultural heritage since the European Cultural Convention came into force.

It deals with the protection, preservation and scientific research of archaeological heritage in Europe. In particular, the revised Convention focuses on the problem of conservation of archaeological heritage in the face of development projects. Other threats to the archaeological heritage are:

In accordance with the Preamble, objectives of the revised Convention are:

In Article 1 of the revised Convention archaeological heritage is defined. The article aims to emphasise the importance of both protection and scientific investigation of archaeological heritage as "a source of the European collective memory".

Considering the ICOMOS Charter for the Protection and Management of the Archaeological Heritage 1990, "archaeological knowledge is based principally on the scientific investigation of the archaeological heritage". Consequentially, destructive as well as non-destructive scientific methods can be carried out with the provision that an excavation is seen as an ultima ratio to gain knowledge about the archaeological heritage of Europe.

An element of archaeological heritage is given if there is any trace of human existence of the past displaying an interaction with the natural environment and enhancing our knowledge of the history of human kind, which was discovered by archaeological techniques. Therefore, not only artefacts of an archaeological site are of value but "all remains and objects and any other traces of mankind". Furthermore, the article gives examples of elements that are included in its concept of archaeological heritage:


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