Permits for Excavation and Survey Work in Greece

1. Acquisition of property for excavation.

Land acquisition for excavation can be a very time consuming and expensive process and is a process that often must begin even before an excavation permit has been requested.

After discussion with and approval of the local Ephoreia for the project, and prior to application for an excavation permit, the director(s) should ascertain the legal disposition and condition of ownership of the land on which the proposed excavation is to take place.

The disposition of the property on which one proposes to excavate is an important issue and one that must be determined prior to application for a permit from the ASCSA.  If the land is privately owned, acquisition may be a time consuming process and it is necessary to begin the process of identifying owners and plots prior to application so that this process does not delay the proposed work, if a permit should be granted. 

Ownership of land can often be determined by making enquiries of the local residents and/or by checking the land registry located in every Demos, where one may obtain a print out with lot numbers associated with the declaration of property.  Some property may not be declared at the time of enquiry, but must be declared for purchase.

If the land is privately owned, the director should indicate that a plan for land acquisition and transference to the Greek government—purchase or expropriation or both—has been agreed upon with the local Ephoreia and that progress has been made to contact landowners.

Land acquisition can take years to complete and includes several stages: identifying the owners and securing their agreement to sell the property; surveying the property and locating parcels (for which the director must pay); making sure that the property has been formally and legally declared by owners to the Greek government and revenue service; agreeing on a price per stremma; and hiring an attorney or symboulographos to draft and execute the contract of sale and deed transfer and deposition

It is important to note that the Ministry cannot buy land that is not legally declared.  So, when the contract is drawn up, it is necessary to make sure that each owner has legal title and tax declaration. Although most people do now because all plots are GIS linked and encoded, you may encounter owners who have not yet declared the land. 

In order to acquire land, the purchaser needs a certified topographic map of the site with the field boundaries and areas or plots/parcels (ktemata) marked and then a Ktematologikos Pinakas Idioktesion, listing the owners and the sizes of the plots; it may also include the land prices. This map must be drawn for the contract of sale to be approved, signed, and filed. 

An Agorapolesia Agrotikon Akineton is the formal contract of sale, written by a symbolaiographos, signed by all the land owners, the Ministry, and the ASCSA director, then filed in the land registry.

The project director is responsible for the fees associated with surveying the plots to be purchased (or expropriated) and for the cost of the attorney and symbolaiographos.

Land can also vary in price rather dramatically, whether purchased outright or expropriated, and it is important that directors applying for a permit to excavate be able to demonstrate who owns the land on which they hope to excavate and that if it is privately held they have the funds in hand for the acquisition.

The process for expropriation (anagkastiki apallotriosi) of land is somewhat different and in this case an established objective value (antikeimeniki axia) will be paid for the land, which can be quite high in some areas, such as in coastal zones.  The expropriation requires a judicial procedure and can last from 2 to 5 years. The procedure is undertaken by the Greek State – but paid for by the excavation director through the ASCSA – and constitutes the ultimate solution, if the owners of the land do not wish to sell the property or do not agree with the selling price. The court decides on the price of the land, which automatically comes to the ownership of the Greek State when the price decided by the court to the landowners has been paid.

2. Procedures for obtaining a permit from the School.

The American School of Classical Studies is entitled by Greek Law of 1932 to three excavations each year. One of these has traditionally been the School’s own excavation at Corinth while the other two have been assigned by the School to cooperating institutions for various sites. Permission to excavate in the Athenian Agora was granted in 1929 by a special act of Parliament. The new Archaeological Law, #3028/2002 “For the Protection of Antiquities and in general of the Greek Heritage”, allows three American projects (excavations, surveys) each year (the Agora is excluded), and three joint Greek-American projects (synergasia).

The list of current permits and their availability can be found here.

All proposals for excavation and survey work in Greece, including synergasia, should be discussed first with the Director of the School. All such proposals then should be sent to the Chair of the Excavation and Survey Committee of the School’s Managing Committee.  The application should be submitted as a single pdf file, including the proposal, illustrations, and supporting documents.  After approval by this committee, the School will then apply to the Greek Ministry of Culture on behalf of the applicant(s) and associated cooperating institution(s). The Excavation and Survey Committee traditionally meets during the Archaeological Institute of America meetings in January and considers proposals for work to begin approximately 18 months from that time.

Accordingly, when permits become available and are announced, those interested in excavation and survey in Greece should submit to the Chair of the Excavations and Surveys Committee 18 months before such work is to take place and no later than November 15, a proposal which will be assessed on the following criteria and information:

1. evidence that prior publication commitments of field projects have been fulfilled.
2. a brief written statement of support for the project from the Proistamenos of the relevant Ephoreia.  This requires personal and direct communication in person with the Proistamenos.
3. the precise area to be excavated/surveyed.  This should be described verbally and clearly indicated on a detailed map of scale 1:5,000.
4. if a permit for excavation is sought, the Trustees of the School require a statement on the legal disposition of the land and how this has been determined.  If the land on which you wish to excavate is privately owned, provide a plan for land acquisition and transference to the Greek government (purchase or expropriation or both) that has been agreed upon with the Proistamenos of the relevant Ephoreia and an indication that progress has been made to contact landowners.  Property prices can vary rather dramatically, whether purchased outright or expropriated, and it is imperative that directors applying for a permit to excavate also demonstrate that they have the funds (or at least the majority) in hand for the acquisition before a permit request can be granted by the ASCSA.
5. the intellectual purpose of the excavation or survey.
6. when a permit is sought for continuing work on a pre-existing project, the project’s intellectual results to date and how these results have been disseminated.
7. the techniques to be employed.
8. the exact dates of the field work which should not be more than 4-6 weeks and the overall length of the program. The fieldwork should be planned to start not earlier than April 1st of each year. If there is a special reason why a project should take place earlier, this must be explained in writing, in a special request to be submitted no later than October 1st. These rules are stated in the Ministry’s directive of 2002, which is valid until further notice.
9. the names and specialties of the staff who are to participate in the work.
10. the contacts which have been made with local authorities about the work, and what support is forthcoming from them.
11. if a synergasia is contemplated, the name(s) of the Greek co-director(s) and a clear outline of the divisions of labor and responsibilities between the Greek and American teams, including a statement that each side will provide one-half of the required funds and staff for each season. In synergasia projects, and according to the directive of the Ministry of June 2002, the two teams must sign a “protocol of cooperation” before the beginning of their project (directive of the Ministry of June 2003). In this protocol the two teams must describe the intellectual purpose of the synergasia, the duration and the budget. The synergasia project is equally divided between the two parties and the Greek side is the director of the project.
12. a budget for the work which must take into account article 44 of Greek Law 5351/32 which reads in part: “During the whole period of the excavation and research until the final publication, the excavating Archaeological Society or Archaeological School is obliged to pay for, under the instructions of the relevant service of the ministry, the conservation of the uncovered remains, the support of walls, the filling of pits, or the drainage of water. Failure to fulfill the above (obligations) can be regarded, after consideration by the Central Archaeological Council, as a termination of the excavation. If no museum or other available appropriate public building exists near the place of excavation, the excavator (and surveyor) has the obligation to pay for the temporary safe storage of the discoveries.” Excavators are also expected to provide permanent storage for their finds after the completion of excavations.
13. if the request is for continuing excavation on a site where you have excavated before, a clear indication both in writing and on a state plan of the site where conservation/backfilling is complete and what, if anything, remains to be completed.
14. a statement of the methods to be employed by the project for the long-term storage and preservation of electronic data that emerges.
15. if a permit for excavation is sought, an explanation addressing how IKA will be paid for workmen.  The ASCSA does not provide this service for affiliated projects.
16. evidence of support from the cooperating institution(s) of which the project director(s) is a member.
17. full CV of director(s) and 2-page CV of each senior staff member.
18. at the end of each season all projects should submit to the School, via the Administrator, a report of activities (as a Word document) accompanied by photos and/or maps. This document will be sent (translated into Greek) to the Ministry of Culture, the relevant ephoreias and directorates, and Archaiologikon Deltion. The English report, with its enclosures, will be sent to foreign schools for inclusion in Archaeological Reports and Archaeology in Greece Online/Chronique des fouilles en ligne.  Therefore, members are requested to send the report and images electronically; if, however, numerous images are included then please send 8 CDs/DVDs with the report and images to the School.

 

19. in addition, submit a separate document addressed to the Director of the School listing publications of your project results and outlining plans (working titles, authors and anticipated submission dates and venues) for future publications.  This report on the status of your publication plans will be forwarded by the Director of the School to the chairs of the Committee on Publications and the Excavation and Survey Committee.

3. Procedures for obtaining a permit from the Greek Archaeological Service via the School.

For those granted one of the School’s five fieldwork permit requests and others seeking permits to conduct study and other research, the following guidelines apply. If you have questions about this procedure, please contact the .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

The School is required to submit all applications for excavation and survey work, including synergasia, to the Department of Foreign Schools in the Ministry of Culture. The Department then seeks the reactions of the relevant Ephoreias and other departments to these applications. The School, therefore, urges the directors of all excavation and survey projects to receive the approval of the relevant Ephoreias before submitting their proposals. The Ephoreias are asked to submit their reactions by December 30 of the year prior to the one in which work is to take place. The School, thus, must submit its requests to the Service in November and accordingly asks the directors of all excavation and survey projects to submit their program of work to the School by October 15 in the year prior to the beginning of the project.

In order to submit these permit requests, the School needs the following information:

 

1. a report on the previous season’s work, accompanied by photos and/or maps.
2. a brief (no more than two pages) summary of what work is intended for the coming season, including a topographical plan of the area to be excavated/surveyed (scale 1:5000), the dates of the season, the various types of work that are to take place, and the names and specialties of as many staff members as are known, including the CVs of all scientific personnel.
3. if scientific studies are intended, exactly what these studies entail and who will carry them out.

For synergasias, the request must be submitted to the Ministry of Culture by both parties at the same time.

NOTE: Even though the School submits its requests to the Ministry of Culture in November, it does not usually receive replies from the Ministry until the end of April. In some cases, the replies are negative. Project directors who need to expend funds before this time are warned that they may have to cancel their plans if the Ministry denies permission. In this case, they are advised to make other arrangements in order not to pay penalties if air tickets are purchased earlier than the end of April.

4. Reporting requirements for permit holders.

Applicants for permits should note that they will be required to submit annual reports on their work for publications in the Archaeological Deltion. These need to be in Greek and the School can have this done for you by a translation service that charges a fee. The translation fee is now $75 for reports of up to one page in length and $150 for reports longer than one page (single spaced, 12-point type in all cases). If you anticipate requiring translation of your report and wish to pay the fee at the same time as your project fees, you may do so.  Those directors who provide a Greek translation of their report will not owe this fee (that is, you are free to translate it yourself or find your own translator, if you prefer).