[Archport] Jean-Paul Demoule

[Francisco Lemos <sandelemos@gmail.com>]

Na sequência da referência na Archport a duas obras coordenadas por Jean-Paul Demoule, pareceu-me oportuno recordar o prémio que lhe foi atribuído em 2008:

THE EUROPEAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE PRIZE 2008

Decision

The EAA Committee for the European Archaeological Heritage Prize, consisting of Romuald

Schild, Poland, Anastasia Tourta, Greece, Paula Purhonen, Finland, Luboš Jirán, Czech

Republic and Willem Willems, the Netherlands (chair), has decided to award the tenth

Heritage Prize of the European Association of Archaeologists to Dr Jean-Paul Demoule from

France, in recognition of his many contributions to shaping modern archaeological heritage

management in France and his contributions to its development at the European level.

Justification for the Prize

Jean-Paul Demoule's contribution to European archaeology is twofold. First, in scientific

terms, his long-lasting research programmes have considerably increased our knowledge of

the origins and development of European proto-historic societies from the Atlantic seaboard

to the eastern Balkans. Secondly, with regard to the modern challenges of archaeological

heritage management, he has successfully championed a distinctive conception of 'preventive

archaeology' as a developer-funded but research-driven public service. This he worked

tirelessly to implement and consolidate within France itself, and also to promote across

Europe and beyond.

Since the beginning of his career at the University of Paris in 1970, Jean-Paul Demoule

dedicated his research activities to the field of European Protohistory. In addition to their

international and interdisciplinary dimensions, these research activities unfolded at a time

when archaeology, no longer an isolated or self-sufficient academic pursuit, was becoming

more evidently and inexorably related to the social, economic and political contexts in which

it was practised. Jean-Paul Demoule played a crucial role in this transformation, both in

France and in Europe. On the one hand, he tracked down and analysed the political

implications and usages of the past in modern Europe, in both totalitarian and democratic

systems. On the other hand, in the light of the economic boom of the last decades, he

repeatedly promoted the idea that the archaeological heritage (including those less appealing

postholes, pollen grains and such-like evidence of daily life) was a fragile non-renewable

resource that required strong measures of protection and valorisation for the benefit of current

and future generations.

Jean-Paul Demoule has held various advisory functions in French scientific, cultural and

administrative bodies. With a thorough ministerial report (rapport Demoule-Pêcheur-

Poignant, 1998), he contributed decisively to the new French legislation on archaeology from

2001 and to the subsequent establishment of the Institut National de Recherches

Archéologiques Préventives (INRAP). Appointed its president, he successfully integrated into

the institute the staff and capacities of the pre-existing national association for excavations,

and steered it through its formative years. INRAP thus embodies the letter and the spirit of the

1992 Malta Convention. It has shifted emphasis from a largely reactive 'rescue' archaeology to

a proactive 'preventive' archaeology, and in economic terms, it builds on the 'polluter pay'

principle in a particular way through what is effectively an archaeology tax applicable to all

developers.

The implementation of these principles has not gone without misunderstandings and

opposition, and here Jean-Paul Demoule took from the onset a leading frontline role to

defend, with diplomacy and determination, the scientific, cultural and economic values of

preventive archaeology. In particular, he notably to counter attempts, largely motivated by

political and ideological considerations, to cast archaeology as a straightforward commercial

activity in which land-owners and developers were 'clients', employing archaeological 'service

providers' to remove archaeological remains from the soil. On the contrary, the European

Commission, when it was appealed to, recognised that archaeology was not necessarily a

commercial undertaking, and encouraged all European countries to manage their

archaeological heritage as they saw best.

In sum, Jean-Paul Demoule has held, shared, helped articulate and defend the deep-seated

conviction that the study and preservation of the archaeological heritage is first and foremost

a public service and a scientific undertaking, carried out on behalf of the community and for

the common interest. Moreover, he knew how to present and promote these ideas to broader

audiences, at continental and indeed global levels. He personally contributed to numerous

conferences and sessions, including at the Annual Meetings of the European Association of

Archaeologists. He also strongly encouraged institutional collaborations, including training,

exchanges of skills, awareness seminars etc., notably in Eastern European and Mediterranean

countries, and also through various collaborative and EU-funded networks. The ideas he

championed are not shared throughout Europe and they never will be, because of fundamental

political, legal, and other differences. But they are increasingly recognised and appreciated by

all those concerned with the challenging future of European archaeology.

It was for these achievements and efforts that the Heritage Prize Committee of the EAA

came to the unanimous decision to award the 2008 European Archaeological Heritage Prize to

Jean-Paul Demoule.