In keeping with Archaeological Services' responsibility to safeguard the province’s archaeological resources and to ensure that any exploration of the same is of the highest standard, a valid Archaeological Field Research Permit is required to undertake any type of archaeological fieldwork in New Brunswick. This permit is issued by the Minister responsible under Section 13(1) of the New Brunswick Heritage Conservation Act.
Archaeological Field Research Permit
An Archaeological Field Research Permit ensures that the information recovered from archaeological sites will become a permanent part of our heritage and, that the recovered archaeological materials themselves will be available for future generations of New Brunswickers. Archaeological materials are taken to include artifacts and any field notes, diagrams, maps, samples, catalogues, spatial data and photographs that describe the context from which the artifacts were removed.
An Archaeological Field Research Permit is required for each separate project that the applicant wishes to undertake. No blanket permits will be issued. A project is defined as an individual piece of archaeological field research designed to preserve, protect and/or learn something about the past. The final decision on what constitutes a project or several projects will be at the discretion of the Minister. Several permits, however, may be held concurrently. A clear distinction is made between projects undertaken for the purpose of better understanding our heritage and those undertaken as a part of an environmental/archaeological impact study.