Abstract:
India is a vast county and has a diverse pool of cultural heritage and ancient monuments
in the form of buildings and other archaeological sites, remains and ruins. The shear
quantum of built heritage makes it difficult to come under the umbrella of legal protection.
In the absence of this legal protection these heritage sites are in danger of vandalism and
illicit trafficking. This standing built heritage is largely untapped, the plight of potential
archaeological sites is more vulnerable, as they are unrecognized and below ground with
traces visible.
Prehistoric people had no written record so we are dependent on the artefacts they did
leave. The values of archaeological sites lie in the information that sites contain and the
knowledge that can be gained from their study. An Archaeological site is any place where
physical remains of past human activities exist. Potential Archaeological sites are the
areas of the property which may contain archaeological remains.
Archaeological sites are a finite non-renewable physical and material resource. There is
a great chance that these potential archaeological sites may get destroyed by the
development activity in the area. So these sites need to be protected and guidelines
should be made for there protection.
