The local heritage asset may provide evidence about past human activity in the locality, which may be in the form of buried remains, but may also be revealed in the structure of buildings or in a designed landscape, for instance. Heritage assets with archaeological interest are primary sources of evidence about the substance and evolution of places, and of the people and cultures that made them.
This is the potential of the asset to tell us more about our past through archaeological investigation. There may be surface features such as banks or ditches, or evidence for concentrations of particular types of artefacts (e.g. flint scatters, pottery wasters) which may infer potential for below ground archaeology.
This is used together with Historic Value to determine whether an asset is suitable for designation as a Scheduled Monument.
Archaeology means the study of the past through the examination or excavation of what physically remains and understanding it through evidence provided. For the purpose of Local Heritage Listing we are considering that this means ruins, e.g. a roofless building, as well as buried remains.
This is primarily about buried features, or substantially ruined structures, which have the capacity to tell us about past human activity through further investigation. Assets with archaeological interest form a primary source of evidence relating to the substance and evolution of places, plus the people and cultures that made them. Archaeological Assets may also have Historic Value (see above), providing a material record of our nation’s prehistory and history, whether by association or through illustration.
- Does the asset or site contain evidence for surviving archaeological structures or features, such as buildings, artefacts, intact stratification or a combination of these?
- Does the asset or site characterise a category or period of time?
- Rarity: Considered both locally and nationally, there are some types of asset that are so scarce that surviving examples that still retain some significance should be considered as part of this project. An example might be an early type of tramway or the remains of an experimental WW2 fougasse.
- Documentation supporting the monument’s significance. This may support the case for inclusion on the Local List, however in some cases the absence of documentation may mean that the asset itself is more important as the only means of obtaining more understanding. For example, a rare prehistoric monument may be the only means of gaining understanding of it, making its preservation even more important.
- Group value with other heritage assets, the consideration of an archaeological asset in the context of others may enhance its significance, for example an enclosure associated with a group of round houses used for farming allows us to understand more about how people may have lived, farmed and traded in the area in the past.
- Survival/condition. The survival of an asset’s significance, meaning or important, both above and below ground is a particularly important consideration and should be assessed in relation to its present condition plus its surviving features.
- Fragility/vulnerability: The nature of some assets mean that they are more fragile, for example they could be destroyed by ploughing, or they could be a ruined structure whose understanding could be blurred by careless repair. Assets such as this could benefit from being on the Local List.
- Diversity of the attributes the monument holds: Whilst some assets may be selected for being an exemplar of a certain type of feature or period, others may have complex layering of different periods or types of feature and this will form a key part of their importance.
- Archaeological Potential. This is the potential of the asset to tell us more about our past through archaeological investigation. There may be surface features such as banks or ditches, or evidence for concentrations of particular types of artefacts (e.g. flint scatters, pottery wasters) which may infer potential for below ground archaeology.