Legislation and underwater archaeology

Is underwater archaeology about doing underwater work, recreational diving, or something else? There is a big dilemma concerning underwater archaeologists. There is no law or regulation that regulates underwater archaeologists. Of course, all activities related to archaeology are regulated by the Act on the protection and care of historical monuments, but underwater archaeology is treated there very marginally.

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Therefore, the status of such activities is not entirely certain. In some Western European countries this problem has been solved in an interesting way, but this will be presented at the end of the article.

In order to try to answer this question I had to finish my studies in archaeology, become a recreational diver, then a professional diver and I still have many doubts. Therefore, the easiest way would be to present and discuss a few articles a the Underwater Work Act that may apply to underwater archaeologists.

As usual I would also like to point out that I am not a lawyer nor do I have a legal background and therefore I may be wrong in my interpretation of individual articles. Therefore, if readers disagree with my interpretations or notice any errors, please feel free to comment and correct them.

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