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This grant program from the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Riksantikvaren) provides funding to cover costs associated with necessary archaeological investigations when special circumstances exist. The state can fully or partially cover the costs of required archaeological surveys. Applicants must demonstrate special grounds for state funding in their application for permission to intervene in automatically protected cultural monuments. There are no fixed rules for what constitutes special grounds, and each case is evaluated individually. The application is not submitted as a standard grant application but rather as an application for permission to intervene in automatically protected cultural monuments, which must be sent to the county municipality (fylkeskommune).

This grant program covers expenses for archaeological investigations required for smaller private projects in Norway. Under the Cultural Heritage Act, the state must cover all or part of the costs of archaeological work when these expenses become unreasonably burdensome for private project owners. While public and larger private project owners must pay for necessary archaeological registrations or excavations, the state covers all or part of the costs for smaller private projects. The Directorate for Cultural Heritage Management (Riksantikvaren) makes the final decision on funding and disburses the grant directly to the institution conducting the archaeological investigations. The county municipality and Sametinget assess whether the application qualifies as a smaller private project when evaluating applications for permission to intervene in automatically protected cultural monuments.