Defending the archaeological heritage

Recent plans of the gouvernment of German federal state Northrhine-Westphalia not only to cut but to suspend state funding for archaeology and cultural heritage are a dangerous development which needs to be averted.
German society for prehistoric archaeology (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte DGUF) started an online petition and is asking for international support.

• DGUF: Funding cuts: North-Rhine Westphalia's unique cultural heritage is under threat

It is already a great success, to have more than 12000 signatures within two weeks. However, to defend the archaeological heritage strikingly against political ignorance, more support is needed. There is the risk, that other German federal states will follow this bad example.

verändert nach
Wikimedia Commons

We talk about 12 Mio €, which is only a small rest from the budget of cultural heritage management some years ago. This is not only peanuts, but it is also money well invested in the small business sector. Already now, more than 95% of archaeological sites within the open brown coal pits are lost without documenting.
Northrhine-Westphalia is an outstanding archaeological region with many important prehistoric, Roman and medieval sites. It is the region, where for example the Neandertal remains have been found.


direct link to the German petition: Angekündigte Streichung der Landeszuschüsse für die Archäologie und Denkmalpflege zurücknehmen!

Interne Links

• Hintergrundinformationen zu den Kürzungen in NRW  (2.4.2013)

• Erste Pressereaktionen (28.3.2013)  - dortige Liste wird noch ergänzt
• Ende der Denkmalförderung in NRW (24.3.2013)
• Gesetzesnovelle in NRW (17.3.2013)
• Archaeologik (14.6.2011): Braunkohletagebau im Rheinland: 95% der archäologischen Fundstellen gehen verloren