Section 46

Subject to this section, any person specifically authorised in writing by the Board, after giving not less than 24 hours’ notice in writing to the occupier of the land of his or her intention to enter the land and on production of his or her authority, if so required by or on behalf of the occupier, may enter for the purposes of archaeological investigation or examination at all reasonable times upon any land which the Board has reason to believe contains any ancient monument and may make excavations in the land.

No person may, under any power conferred by subsection (1), enter any dwelling house or any building, park, garden, pleasure ground or other land used for the amenity or convenience of a dwelling house except with the occupier’s consent.

No excavation may be made under the power conferred by subsection (1) except with the consent of every person whose consent to the making of the excavation would, apart from that subsection, be required.

Any power of entry under this section includes the power for any person entering any land in exercise of the power of entry to take with him or her any assistance or equipment reasonably required for the purpose to which his or her entry relates and to do there anything reasonably necessary for carrying out that purpose.

Without affecting subsection (4), where a person enters any land in exercise of any power of entry under this section for the purpose of carrying out any archaeological investigation or examination of the land, he or she may take and remove any samples of any description that appear to him or her to be reasonably required for the purpose of archaeological analysis.

Where a person enters any land in exercise of any power of entry under this section for the purpose of carrying out any archaeological investigation or examination of the land, he or she may take temporary custody of any object of archaeological or historical interest discovered during the course of the excavations carried out for that purpose, and remove it from its site for the purpose of examining, testing, treating, recording or preserving it.

The Board or other person by or on whose behalf the power of entry was exercised may not retain the object without the owner’s consent beyond the period that may be reasonably required for the purpose of examining and recording it and carrying out any test or treatment which appears to the Board or to that person to be desirable for the purpose of archaeological investigation or analysis or with a view to restoring or preserving the object.

Nothing in this section affects any right of the Government in relation to treasure trove.

Any person who wilfully obstructs or hinders any person in the exercise of the powers conferred by this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both.

In this section —

“ancient monument” means any monument which, in the opinion of the Board, is of public interest by reason of the historic, cultural, traditional, archaeological, architectural, artistic or symbolic significance attaching to it;

“monument” has the meaning given by section 2 of the Preservation of Monuments Act 2009.

For the purposes of this section, “archaeological investigation” means any investigation of any land, objects or other material for the purpose of obtaining and recording any information of archaeological or historical interest and includes in the case of an archaeological investigation of any land —

For the purposes of this section, an archaeological examination of any land means any examination or inspection of the land (including any buildings or other structures on the land) for the purpose of obtaining and recording any information of archaeological or historical interest.