Nous pratiquons un droit d'antiquaire : Relire les notions juridiques de ' mobilier archéologique ' et de ' documentation scientifique ', à partir de l'exemple des ' matériaux naturels et de nature biologique '

摘要

A new legal category was added into French Preventive Archaeology Law in 2004. The "natural and biological materials" are now separated from the "archaeological movables" - which now refer only to "objects transformed by human activity" - and are integrated into the "scientific documentation". Such a distinction may seem ingenious: because they are ''scientific documentation'', these materials must be kept physically by the State (article L. 523-11 of Cultural Heritage Code) and since they are not ''archaeological movables'', they do not have to be shared between the State and the landowner (article L. 523-14 of Cultural Heritage Code). However, if we take a closer look, it appears that this new legal category raises more problems than it solves. Its identification happens to be difficult (§ 1), the category itself is not fully useful (§ 2) and perhaps even of doubtful legality (§ 3). Above all, it perpetuates an outdated concept of ''archaeological movables'' which believes movables are a "reality" that archaeologists "discover". On the opposite, Archaeology Law would reduce the gap between legal theory and archaeological practice by assuming what the archaeological movables really are: a simple qualification that archaeologists attribute to a portion of land they have mobilized (§ 4).