Archaeological Heritage Conservation and Management

Microsoft Word - AHCM Archaeopress v2 1 DEC.docxBrian J. Egloff
www.archaeopress.com
© Archaeopress and Brian J Egloff 2019
Front cover - Visitor pressure during an October day at Ephesus, Turkey.
Back cover - Ancient Greek ruins at Pergamon with a solitary visitor and the modern city of Bergama, Turkey, in the distance.
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“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” Winston Churchill1
Dedicated to the memory of
Willem J.H. Willems 1950-2014
‘Archaeology is about the past, but archaeological heritage management is about the role of the past in the present (Willems 2014).
1 https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/535242-the-farther-back-you-can-look-the-farther-forward-you. Accessed 28 May 2016.
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Contents
1.2 Not one, but many archaeologies ................................................................................................................... 1
1.3 Indigenous rights .............................................................................................................................................. 9
1.6 A narrative ....................................................................................................................................................... 19
2.1 Inspiration ........................................................................................................................................................ 21
2.2 Global ................................................................................................................................................................ 30
2.3 Misuse ............................................................................................................................................................... 32
2.5 Inventories ....................................................................................................................................................... 37
2.9 As heritage ....................................................................................................................................................... 51
3.3 Cairo Act 1937 ................................................................................................................................................... 57
3.4 New Delhi Recommendation 1956 ..................................................................................................................... 59
3.5 International instruments ............................................................................................................................. 66
3.7 ICOMOS, WAC and IPPA ................................................................................................................................. 73
3.8 European actions ............................................................................................................................................ 75
3.9 A summary ....................................................................................................................................................... 84
4.3 Characterization and listing.......................................................................................................................... 92
4. 7 Volunteers in archaeology ........................................................................................................................... 97
4.8 Interpretation of sites .................................................................................................................................... 98
4.9 Preservation of site benchmarks ................................................................................................................ 100
4.10 Ethics and archaeology .............................................................................................................................. 100
4.11 Education, training and qualifications .................................................................................................... 107
4.12 Public programs .......................................................................................................................................... 114
4.14 Grey and opaque literature ....................................................................................................................... 116
5. Sustainability ................................................................................................................................................... 121
5.1 Cultural Rights, Cultural Capital and Quality of Life ............................................................................... 122
5.2 Identity, sense of place and nationalism ................................................................................................... 125
5.3 Repatriation ................................................................................................................................................... 129
5.5 Participatory processes ................................................................................................................................ 156
5.6 Capacity building .......................................................................................................................................... 138
6. Economics ....................................................................................................................................................... 149
6.1 Valuation ........................................................................................................................................................ 151
6.5 Rebuilding of archaeological ruins ............................................................................................................ 170
6.6 Limits of acceptable change ........................................................................................................................ 178
6.7 Privatization .................................................................................................................................................. 179
6.8 Development .................................................................................................................................................. 180
7.1 Principles of good governance ................................................................................................................... 187
7.2 Threats and risk management .................................................................................................................... 200
7.3 War, conflict and strife ................................................................................................................................ 203
7.4 Illicit excavations and the trade in artefacts ............................................................................................ 208
7.5 Climate change .............................................................................................................................................. 211
8. International reflections................................................................................................................................ 217
8.3 Archaeological heritage and conflict ......................................................................................................... 233
8.4 Looting and enforcement ............................................................................................................................ 234
8.5 Archaeology as intangible heritage ........................................................................................................... 236
8.6 Comfort zones and realms of anxiety ........................................................................................................ 241
References ............................................................................................................................................................ 247
Appendix 1 International and national instruments .................................................................................... 315
Appendix 2 Salalah Guidelines for the Management of Public Archaeological Sites .............................. 321
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Tables
1.1 Short list of types of archaeology ......................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Number of publications in the North American literature............................................................................ 50 3.1 Government views on the 'Final Act of Cairo' .................................................................................................. 59 3.2 Government views on 'Scientific rights; rights and obligations of the excavator' ................................... 60 3.3 Examples of international instruments grouped into three broad categories .......................................... 67 7.1 Framework for assessing sustainability ........................................................................................................... 191 7.2 'Recommended Principles of Good Governance for Heritage Sector’ ....................................................... 194 8.1 Archaeological resource conservation and management comfort zones and realms of anxiety ........ 243
Figures
All photographs are the author's, except where indicated. 1.1 Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily, built in the first quarter of the 4th century demonstrates the measures
that can be taken to shelter fragile classical archaeological remains .......................................................... 4 1.2 Shelter on the town square at the Museo Romano de Astorga, Spain, on the World Heritage listed
Camino de Santiago ................................................................................................................................................ 5 1.3 Team from AIATSIS and Kanamakek-Yale Ngala Museum, Wadeye, Northern Territory, Australia,
recording meanings of recent rock-paintings at Papa Ngalla east of Wadeye. Margaret, relative of senior Traditional Owner Camilla, pointing out features of painting to museum honorary curator, Mark Crocombe. Image courtesy of Graeme K Ward (AIATSIS) with permission of community ......... 11
1.4 Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, served as an early focal point of historical archaeology in America. Here a colonial period cellar is re-excavated as part of a university training program ......................... 15
1.5 The idyllic setting of Colonial Williamsburg guided in part by archaeological inquiry to inform the reconstruction ....................................................................................................................................................... 16
1.6 In situ excavation and display of the Neolithic Hemudu culture (5500 to 3300 BCE) in Zhejiang, China, showing the remains of timber framed buildings, wells and pools. The site is important for the early domestication of rice ............................................................................................................................................ 17
2.1 Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Dayan Pagoda), Xi’an, China is listed as a National Key Cultural Relic Preserve. The surrounds of the place have been extended at the expense of the vernacular settlement of the locale ........................................................................................................................................................................ 43
3.1 Lycian sarcophagus and tourist shops at Ka, Turkey .................................................................................... 83 4.1 Open area excavations at Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Hanoi, Vietnam .................................................. 88 4.2 Well-maintained images at the shrine of Dambulla, Sri Lanka, demonstrates the intersection between
material culture and intangible values that require the maintenance of images from the past .......... 81 4.3 La Trobe archaeology students excavating in the simulated TARDIS dig. Image courtesy of David
Thomas, La Trobe University ............................................................................................................................ 110
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5.1 Young Mayan visitor at Tikal, Guatemala ....................................................................................................... 124 5.2 Family outing at Tikal, Guatemala .................................................................................................................... 125 5.3 The five thousand year-old World Heritage listed Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland, an
island in the Baltic Sea, Sweden, displays evidence of continuous human settlement from prehistoric times to the present day .................................................................................................................................... 143
5.4 Pergamon, Turkey, view of cable car landing from the acropolis .............................................................. 145 6.1 Quiet main street in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR, prior to the influx of tourists and changes to the
streetscape ............................................................................................................................................................ 154 6.2 Luang Prang in 2011 following the opening up of Laos to mass tourism and the World Heritage listing
of the urban area ................................................................................................................................................. 154 6.3 Front of Tikal monument with a speculative reconstruction, where the rear of the structure and
sides have been stabilized and left in ruins as found .................................................................................. 157 6.4 Tourists filling the streets of Pingyao, China ................................................................................................. 160 6.5 Rebuilding war damaged structures at the Imperial Palace in Hue, Viet Nam ....................................... 162 6.6 Sacheongwang Temple Site, built in 679 C.E., being prepared for reburial following excavation.
Asian participants in the International Intensive Course for Cultural Heritage, The Korean National University of Cultural Heritage, Buyeo, Korea, are viewing the site ....................................................... 166
6.7 Exposed remains from the 4th to 13th centuries Champa Kingdom at My Son Sanctuary, Viet Nam. The fragile brick structures present a strong case for stabilization and reburial .................................. 167
6.8 Shelter at Copan shielding the carved glyph stairway ................................................................................. 170 6.9 Eketorp, the rebuilt 700 C.E. Viking settlement on the Island of Örland, Sweden, features as the
setting for the plague ravaged medieval period movie ‘Three Suns’. ...................................................... 173 6.10 Upper cave stupa at Tam Ting, Lao PDR, after rebuilding ......................................................................... 174 6.11 Conservation of statue in upper cave at Tam Ting, Lao PDR. .................................................................... 174 6.12 Theft of 666 Buddha statutes between 1997 and 2010 has left the Tam Ting caves with only a few of
the ancient statues remaining. This image of the altar in the upper cave when compared with the photograph at the closing of the conservation project in 1997 amply illustrates the extent of the desecration (see Figure 6.10) ............................................................................................................................. 175
6.13 'Wild' section of the Great Wall, China, contrasts markedly with the tourist venues that feature rebuilt sections of the wall ............................................................................................................................... 176
6.14 Industrial heritage of the World War Two naval dockyard at Cockatoo Island, Sydney, Australia . 182 7.1 Perilous walkway at religious shrine of Sigiriya, Sri Lanka ......................................................................... 201 7.2 Tourists at Petra, Jordan. Image courtesy of Doug Comer ........................................................................... 215 8.1 World Heritage listed early agricultural landscape of Kuk showing a house floor removed uncovering
previous garden drainage ditches dating to between 200 to 1,200 years old ........................................ 223 8.2 Tourists in the mist show little respect for the restored ruins of the sixth-century Christian monastery
at Skellig Michael (Sceilig Mhichíl), Ireland ................................................................................................. 224 8.3 Aerials at the Belconnen Naval Transmission Station, Canberra, Australia, destroyed by the
Department of Defence prior to sale for urban development ................................................................ 229
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Abbreviations and Acronyms
Abbreviations have been kept to a minimum, as has jargon. In some instances acronyms have been used in the narrative or are found in quotes.
AACA - Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists ACRA - American Cultural Resources Association AHM - Archaeological Heritage Management AHC - Australian Heritage Council AIA - Archaeological Institute of America AIATSIS - Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies ANU – The Australian National University ANUTEC - The Australian National University technical services company ANZAAS - Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science ARC - Australian Research Council ARPA - Archaeological Resources Protection Act 1979 BLM - Bureau of Land Management CBA- Council for British Archaeology CRM - Cultural Resource Management DCMS - Department of Conservation, Media and Sport Docomomo - International Committee for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and
Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement EIA - Environmental Impact Assessment ESIA - Environmental and Social Impact Assessment EU – European Union EUJ – European Union Journal GAO - General Accounting Office H@R - Heritage at Risk ICOMOS - International Council on Monuments and Sites ICAHM - International Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management ICBS - International Committee of the Blue Shield ICCROM - International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property ICTM - International Council for Traditional Music IFC - International Finance Corporation INRAP - Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Preventives IPPA - Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association IOB - Principles of Good Governance IUCN - International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUPPS - International Union of Pre- and Proto-Historic Sciences MoRPHE -Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment. The MoRPHE NAGPRA - Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 1990 NAZI - Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei NGO – non-governmental organisation NMAI - National Museum of the American Indian New Delhi Recommendation - UNESCO Recommendation on International Principles Applicable to Archaeological
Excavations, New Delhi 1956
NSF - National Science Foundation OUV - Outstanding Universal Value (World Heritage) PFM - Public Financial Management Reform PNG - Papua New Guinea Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists REAP – Rapid Ethnographic Assessment Procedures RICPP - Return of Indigenous Cultural Property Program RTIO - Rio Tinto Iron Ore RMGC - Rosia Montana Gold Corporation SAA - Society for American Archaeology Salalah Guidelines - ICAHM, ICOMOS Salalah Guidelines for the Management of Public Archaeological Sites,
New Delhi 2017 SHM - Historical Sanctuary of Machu Picchu TCP - Traditional Cultural Properties UNDP - United Nations Development Programme UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation US - United States of America VERP - Visitor Experience and Resource Protection Process WA – Western Australia WAC - World Archaeology Congress WHC - Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, also World Heritage
Committee WHS - World Heritage Site
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Acknowledgements
Archaeological heritage conservation and management has consumed the majority of my waking hours since undergraduate days at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. The opportunity to pull my experiences and notions together did not occur until partial-retirement from teaching. In 2007, the Getty Conservation Institute offered me a visiting scholar position and access to their seemingly limitless resources. That opportunity facilitated my reflection from an international perspective on my position in the history and contemporary situation of archaeology, conservation and management. As a field editor of the Getty Conservation Institute’s Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts, I was continually updated with new material and am pleased to acknowledge the strength of that resource. At the Getty Conservation Institute Neville Agnew, Kristen Kelly, Jeanne Marie Teutonico, David Meyers and Cynthia Godeleski assisted with early drafts of the manuscript. Cameron Trowbridge and Valerie Greathouse provided tireless and continuing high-level support in library resources. I have never had it so good!
I wish to acknowledge the valuable comments that were made by multiple anonymous reviewers that helped to improve and update the volume as well as correct mistakes. My thanks to David Davison and Ben Heaney of Archaeopress for their support and technical advice.
Marilyn Truscott, as President of the ICOMOS International Committee for Intangible Cultural Heritage, has made vital comments on an early draft of the manuscript. My thanks to Laurier Turgeon, editor of Spirit of Place: Between Tangible and Intangible Heritage, for publishing the paper titled 'Conserving the archaeological soul of places: drafting guidelines for the ICAHM charter' (Egloff and Comer 2009) and allowing material from that paper to be incorporated into this text.
Juliet Ramsay and our sons Ian, Henry and Simeon, have shared many archaeological adventures, in some notable instances while as embryos, and are to be thanked for their tolerance, understanding and support.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those, who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear,
which is inherent in a human condition. Graham Greene2
'The Abyss: an Academic Archaeologist looks at the future' (Kelly 2014) provides a launching pad for a reflection on archaeological heritage conservation and management. As an Internet broadcast, it is available at no cost to all viewers worldwide thus facilitating the transfer of knowledge that so marks this century. In an entertaining mode, complete with 'clever coyote' cartoons, Kelly brings across the view that academic archaeology is languishing far behind commercial cultural heritage resource management that has virtually unlimited funding and projects that in some cases are funded for twenty years. While in his view the funds for academic archaeology are miserly to say the least, the relative poverty causes archaeologists to do 'drive-by' research. Kelly reminds us that many countries are not part of the international conversation and that there is a need to move out of North America, build capacity abroad and look towards making a contribution to the problems that face the world such as poverty, state violence, racism and climate change to name but a few of the many. Kelly asserts that the focus should be on places where the resource can expand our knowledge and where what data archaeologists recover is valued, and research is not regarded as a self-serving adventure in treasure hunting.
1 .1 As an adventure Kelly (2014) describes archaeology as an adventure and it is the kindred spirit of exploration that has led me to many archaeological places, some of which lie forgotten, others are known but not visited and all too frequently I toured iconic places that were assaulted by thousand of tourists. These experiences have led me to believe that archaeology is not at the edge of an abyss, but that the conservation and management of the world's archaeological heritage is! I wish to share reflections as an archaeologists that sharpened his first trowel in northern Wisconsin excavating a Late Archaic site (Hruska 1967), then mapped and studied historic Cherokee villages in western North Carolina, followed by ethnoarchaeology in Papua and six years facilitating the capacity and capabilities of the National Museum of Papua New Guinea, then on to Aboriginal 'landrights' in New South Wales,3 historic site conservation and management in Tasmania and teaching Cultural Resource Management at the University of Canberra while undertaking the conservation of Buddhist heritage in Laos and a British colonial fortress in Mauritius. For the most part the archaeology, conservation and management was undertaken by both small and large teams as well as a few solo adventures. But there are many kinds of archaeology.
1 .2 Not one, but many archaeologies A broad and sweeping statement in the 'Introduction to the Charter of the International Committee for Archaeological Heritage Management' asserts that ‘archaeological heritage constitutes the basic record of past human activities’ (ICAHM 1990). Depending upon the archaeologist’s position in the conservation process, this phrase has different meanings and does not alert the reader to the diverse range of
2 http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/95994-writing-is-a-form-of-therapy-sometimes-i-wonder-how. Accessed 24 May 2016. 3 Following on from Smith and Ward (2000:190), upper case is used for Indigenous and Aboriginal when referring to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders.
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perspectives that characterize the archaeological community. Article 1 of the charter considerably narrows the definition to:
The “archaeological heritage” is that part of the material heritage in respect of which archaeological methods provide primary information. It comprises all vestiges of human existence and consists of places relating to all manifestations of human activity, abandoned structures, and remains of all kinds (including subterranean and underwater sites), together with all the portable cultural material associated with them.
A definition without reference to living communities is not particularly useful for the archaeologist whose primary interests lies in linking the remains of the past with descendent communities, or communities that have a particular living association with the place; a practice that is important to some but not all archaeologists (McDavid 2004). Nor does such a definition do service to the heritage specialist that seeks out the values that contemporary societies hold for a heritage that may not be comprised of material things but might be a sacred place that evidences no perceptible modification by human activity.
Modern media portray archaeologists in a variety of guises from explorers and adventurers to dedicated laboratory scientists, and kings and lords of the realm. The National Science Foundation has created a web page that compares 'reel' archaeology with 'real' archaeology.4 Biblical, astronomical, historical and cultural subject matter to name but a few, with activities like the excavation of battlefields from the far distant classical past to those of the World War One trenches of Flanders are the metier of archaeologists. Perhaps it is easier to describe archaeologists by what they are not, than by what they are! To some extent that is what the ICAHM Charter of 1990 does when it states that ‘the archaeological heritage is that part of the material heritage in respect of which archaeological methods provide primary information’.
Although there can be strength in diversity, differences can be perplexing as well as divisive. Traditionally the methodologies of archaeologists are grounded in particular schools of academic thought and practice. As such the past is viewed from the perspective of various disciplines, each of which directs the focus of that specific archaeology in a particular way to selected subject matter. Archaeology taught in a Greek or Roman classics department is different from that studied in an anthropology class or in American or African studies. Each requires a specific mind-set, as well as reference points and a common as well as a different set of intellectual foundations. An archaeologist excavating a Roman villa will be well served by having a command of Latin, or an expert in classical languages on the team, such that they can interpret ancient landownership records and understand the grammar of the construction of Roman buildings. While an archaeologists with an anthropological perspective that undertakes a study in South America will find that they benefit from a thorough grounding in local history and language while interrogating the social customs of not only the civilization that they are exploring, but also of the descendent community. One of the archaeologists will be employed in a classics department while the other will be in an anthropology department. Most likely neither will regularly attend the same archaeological conferences, subscribe to like academic journals or belong to matching professional associations (McDonald 1991:830). The classical archaeologist versus the anthropological archaeologists is but one of the great divides of current archaeology. Critical is the expertise required of the leader of the team to comprehend previous studies in the research field, pursue questions remaining unanswered, and…