Criteria and Procedures of Analysis Applicable in the Evaluation of the Archaeological Heritage

Abstract The implementation of the European policy in the field of built heritage involved, for each country, the creation of the legal, administrative and financial means necessary for the implementation of the rehabilitation policy. The research procedures and the intervention measures must be correlated with the degree of damage (degradation) of the materials, as an effect of earthquakes that the construction has endured, of others specific exploitation actions, differential land settlements, uncontrolled human interventions or environmental factors. Archaeologists around the world have developed a procedure for evaluating archaeological resources, so it appeared in the early 1970s, an example being that developed by Schaffer and Gumerman in 1977. Archaeological sites have the ability to demonstrate how the society functioned at a given time, the level of civilization, the progress of science and technology, what processes have taken place, how the activity unfolded and the extent of a technological practice or other occupation history. They can demonstrate the main characteristics of a place or process that may be rare or common. In the article, the authors develop the principles that lie at the base of quantifying the values of archaeological heritage, presenting some case studies.