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funds available to secure the data and the relative cost efficiency of various strategies. However, in any intrusive action, it is better to economize on the action as such than on its documentation, since documentation is all that remains and since documentation can never be repeated if what is to be documented has been destroyed.
Progress reports
Rule 26 specifically requires progress reports of activities directed at underwater cultural heritage. This means progress reports of all stages of archaeological projects. It includes planning, survey, identification, evaluation, excavation and treatment, as appropriate. Progress reports provide the basis for evaluation of the project’s development, they inform the project’s sponsors and they help the project- director to fine-tune strategies, and, if necessary, to adapt the project design. Status or progress reports shall always include a description of the current phase of activities, methodology, results, and preliminary assessment of the archaeological materials recovered thus far. They shall also include reports on any accidents and major problems encountered during the course of the excavation. Progress reports are also a basis to keep the public informed and involved. In terms of documentation, the progress report stands halfway between the primary data collected and the final report, or perhaps it stands a bit on the sideline, as the final report needs to build on the primary data as well.
The breadth of archaeological
documentation
Archaeological investigations are seldom able to collect and record all possible data. It is therefore essential to determine in advance the point at which further data recovery and documentation will fail to improve the usefulness of the archaeological information to be recovered.
Conversely, the research design should also be flexible enough to allow for examination of unanticipated, but important research opportunities that arise
Documentation