Public Challenges and the Private Ways of State Archaeology: the Case of Greece

Abstract

Since its emergence Greek archaeology has been run exclusively by the state for political and economic reasons. The relevant legislation has always granted the Archaeological Service enough power to establish it as one of the most authoritative services in the public sector. I argue that the conditions under which archaeology is practised in Greece are increasingly changing. Agents operating at an international, national and local level are challenging the exclusive rights of the state in archaeological heritage management and demanding their views on protection are acknowledged. An overview of recently undertaken initiatives and research projects, as reported in the press and on websites, demonstrates an increasing demand for a more inclusive and public approach to the management of archaeological heritage. I also argue that Greek archaeologists are aware of the potential value of a public engagement with the discipline, but for different reasons — such as conservatism, bureaucracy and lack of means — do not act on it to the extent that they should. Finally, the paper confronts Greek state archaeology as an exclusive system of archaeological heritage management, and puts forward the importance of the local rather than the global public (i.e. tourism — where the emphasis of archaeological management in Greece currently lies).     

Archaeological Site Management and Local Involvement: A Case Study from Abu Rawash,Egypt

Abstract

Local involvement is an essential element of successful archaeological site management. Recognition of the role of the local community could make a great contribution in improving the present critical situation of many archaeological sites worldwide. In Egypt, where internationally renowned archaeological sites attract both academic and tourism interests, archaeological sites and monuments are suffering from different issues. Amongst the various causes is the failure to recognize the relationship between the sites and the present society — both the local community and other stakeholders — and this has negatively influenced the sites. Not only have the local communities been given limited access to knowledge, and limited opportunities to become involved in the archaeology, but also their attempts to pursue a better standard of living have been restricted for the sake of protecting the national heritage. In this article I use a case study from Abu Rawash to explore strategies that could encourage local involvement in site management, through capacity building and communication with the government and other stakeholders. Although local involvement may not provide a drastic improvement of an individual site's condition, the principle of local involvement should contribute to a general improvement in Egypt, where conservation efforts largely focus on physical materials and little attention is given to the society surrounding the archaeological remains.     

Living with Heritage: The Potentials of and Pressures on the Heritage Landscape of Gwollu,Upper West Region,Ghana

Abstract

The impact of development has been identified as one of the most pressing concerns in heritage management in Africa. At the same time, heritage has also been recognized as having the potential to bring tourists, and thus growth, to local economies. Communities that wish to benefit from the latter have to balance developmental pressures against the preservation of heritage, and various sectors of the community may view these priorities differently. In this paper, I discuss some of the potentials of, and pressures on, the heritage landscape of Gwollu, a town in Ghana's Upper West Region. I use Gwollu's brickmakers as a case study to illustrate the small-scale everyday development that can have a lasting impact on a town's heritage resources, and how internal divisions within communities may affect the heritage tourism process.     

Casting Identity in the Cultural Tourism Industry: Greek Tourist Guides in a 'Mission' of Heritage Interpretation

Abstract

The focus of this article is on how identity on a local level is expressed through cultural heritage interpretation and negotiated in an environment of globalization, but also multiculturalism and promotion of locality, like the European Union (EU). Interpretation is public communication of perceptions and values attached to heritage, and a main component of cultural tourism. Tourist guides in Greece, where guiding is strictly regulated, have been confronted with the EU on several occasions. Through the examination of this conflict, issues such as rights of interpretation, the projected image and identity of place and people, otherness and identity realization, the role of education and especially archaeology in governing, as perceived by the Greek tourist guides, are examined and analysed in the contexts of audience, state and the EU.     

The HMS Swift shipwreck: The development of underwater heritage protection in Argentina

Abstract

The aim of this article is to evaluate, with a critical perspective, the legal framework for heritage protection in Argentina, viewing it within an international context and focusing on the HMS Swift shipwreck – sunk in Puerto Deseado (Santa Cruz province) in 1770 – as a case study. Moreover, some initial proposals for a management plan are presented as a first step in thinking about the challenges of preserving underwater sites in Argentinian Patagonia.

Through this analysis some interesting points are outlined, including the reasons that make the Swift shipwreck a leading case in Argentina. It is the first interdisciplinary underwater archaeology project in the country comprising archaeologists who are also divers; it is supported by national authorities; and it is the first project of its kind to give underwater archaeologists experience in dealing with archaeological research and preservation in an environment of multiple conflicting interests.

The international relevance of the Swift case relies on the nature of underwater cultural heritage as an international resource. The project's history is located in an international setting, derived from ihternational trade and communication, in which many ships and their contents have been lost far from their origin or destination. At a national level the Swift is a wreck with significant historical and cultural value. It is in a unique state of preservation and its location near to the shore makes it highly accessible. Locally,HMS Swift will be relevant when Puerto Deseado's community starts to recognise it as a significant part of their own heritage and local people become involved in the preservation of the wreck.     

The Feathered Serpent Pyramid at Teotihuacan: decay,conservation and future perspectives

Abstract

The Feathered Serpent Pyramid at Teotihuacan, Mexico, is one of the most outstanding monuments of Mexican archaeological heritage. However, the volcanic stones that constitute the main façade of this building are subject to complex deterioration phenomena that include decay caused by the presence of water and soluble salts, as well as inappropriate treatments carried out in past decades. Agents of decay are explained in the article, as well as the means of diagnosis employed for their study. Recent conservation activities and other potential conservation treatments are also discussed.     

Visitor Management,the Development of Sustainable Cultural Tourism and Local Community Participation at Chogha Zanbil,Iran

Abstract

Chogha Zanbil, an Elamite ziggurat and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Iran, has considerable potential as a cultural tourism destination but currently it receives a surprisingly small number of visitors. The site has seen a successful international conservation project over the past decade: now it needs a complete heritage strategy, which will give sufficient weight to developing sustainable tourism in a way that ensures the site's conservation, as well as its effective presentation to the public. This paper combines existing approaches to sustainable cultural development with primary research in Iran, including interviews with different stakeholders. It uses the Chogha Zanbil case study to suggest how visitor management strategies and cultural tourism can equip a site with the necessary tools to receive visitors and manage their impact while generating revenue for the site's maintenance and preservation. It also highlights the importance of local community participation in this process and provides examples of how local villagers can participate in, and benefit from, the development of sustainable cultural tourism at Chogha Zanbil.     

The Interplay of Spirit in Greek Island Dancing

Values of honourable courtship are expressed in dance and this paper is an ethnographic reconstruction of a Greek island dance called the sousta practised on the Dodecanesian island of Rhodes during the interwar period (1925–1940). Its performance was a dynamic interplay of gender roles that mediated romance and moved the performers toward the resolution of marriage. The aim of the paper is to elaborate on values ascribed to men and women during the occasion of dancing at a village wedding in southern Rhodes. The interplay of grace (hari) and honour (timi) will locate why and how men reveal through hari and why women are concealed through timi during the dance performance.     

Island Biocultural Assemblages — The Case of Kinmen Island

ABSTRACT A growing mass of research contributes to our understanding of how biological and cultural diversity are related in complex and important ways. This paper presents an assembling process of biodiversity and cultural diversity on an island, Kin‐men (Quemoy), based on 1600 years of its environmental history. The study shows that the island's biocultural assemblages are a result both of external relations with the island's surrounding environment and internal relations within the island's changing human ecology. Distant political powers and economic forces are the two major external influences that have affected the flow of natural and cultural elements to and from the island, while ‘screening effects’ and ‘isolation effects’ are two factors that explain internal interactions. The island's biocultural assembling processes reveal that the openness of the island facilitates increase in the diversity of biocultural elements, while its less disturbed isolated condition fosters natural succession and co‐evolution. The study suggests that biocultural assemblages and the associated processes of co‐evolution and nature–society interactions are accomplished through the intermittent opportunities purposively provided by or inadvertently found in the openings and closures of boundaries, setting the scene for both boundary crossings and bounded shelter, by intent or chance.     

Environmental Relations and Biophysical Transition: The Case of Trinket Island

ABSTRACT To what extent is an island economy cut off from the rest of the world? Defined as a mass of land bounded by water, island societies connect and exchange with their surroundings rather intensely. Based on empirical research, this paper explores the role of a ‘remote’ island society on Trinket in generating or sheltering itself from the process of globalisation in which con‐textually given borders are transgressed and displaced. To this end, we apply the concepts of societal metabolism and colonising natural processes operationalised by Material and Energy Flow Analysis (MEFA), and Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) respectively. Using these biophysical indicators, we describe the transition from a metabolism based upon the natural environment to metabolism based on exchange with other societies. Data presented in this paper further reveal a process of industrialisation and integration into the global market of a so‐called ‘closed’ and ‘inaccessible’ island society.     

Preserving a Monument: The Example of the Parthenon

Abstract

The preservation of architectural relics of the past developed as a science mainly in the last century. The more a ruin is preserved, the more information it may provide about the past. Structural interventions on relics aim to improve their state of preservation for the future, as well as to render their shape more complete, for the overall purpose of safeguarding their historical information. Over the course of past decades interventions have undergone many changes with respect to methodology, materials, and scope. Intervention in the name of preservation can be interpreted in various ways and questions concerning the goals and nature of modern interventions have become particularly relevant. The current Parthenon Restoration Project, which differs in basic aspects from its predecessors, follows international guidelines for interventions, but remains distinctive for its extent as well as its methods of execution. This paper discusses the theoretical approach underlying the intervention and practical aspects of its methodology.     

The State We're in on the Eve of World Archaeological Congress (WAC) 6: Archaeology in Ireland vs Corporate Takeover and a Reply from University College Dublin

Abstract

There has been a change in how the state in Ireland uses archaeology since the 1990s, when it began collaboration with the private sector on large-scale development. Most archaeologists are now employed by private companies on temporary, short-term contracts. As in other countries, this has happened in tandem with increasing bureaucratic, corporate control of universities and pressure on academics to orient teaching to meet the needs of industry. This is an inevitable expression of expansion by multi-national corporations, often part of the ‘spreading democracy’ which, updating a famous phrase, can be characterised as a US-led ‘war by other means’. I present a case study of that process unfolding in one country, focusing on road development, the corruption upon which it is necessarily founded, and the role of archaeology. The M3 motorway which threatens the landscape of the Hill of Tara provides a good example. Crucial questions of professional ethics and standards, particularly professionals’ accountability to the community, have been sidelined. WAC 6 will be held in University College Dublin in June 2008; this congress will be pivotal because WAC will decide for or against archaeologists’ accountability to communities and their life-or-death struggle for survival, and for or against embedding the profession with cultural destruction in the private sector. A reply from University College Dublin follows this article.     

古代希腊城邦自治观念与霸权兴衰——试析公元前386至公元前371年斯巴达与雅典的称霸

古代希腊的城邦自治（autonomia）观念始于公元前5世纪,及至《大王和约》发展为希腊城邦处理相互间关系的准则。就公元前4世纪霸权的兴衰、更迭和发展进程而言,城邦自治原则的最终确立影响极大。该原则虽为强邦所滥用,在一定程度上沦为实现霸权的工具,但也阻止了联盟作为一种霸权向帝国的发展。城邦自治观念与霸权所呈现出的这种相反相成的复杂关系,是梳理希腊城邦邦际政治史的一条重要线索。     

从希腊化文化的传播看全球化之起源

大多数学者认为全球化进程始于 1 5世纪或 1 6世纪的某段时间。事实上 ,二千多年前就出现过这种全球化进程的类似物———希腊化。本文根据现有资料 ,论述希腊化文化体系的构成要素 ,在此基础上简单地将昔日的希腊化概念和今天的全球化概念作一比较 ,说明它们之间的异同及内在联系。     

Fishing: Evidence for Seasonality and Processing of Fish for Preservation in the Northern Isles of Scotland During the Iron Age and Norse Times

Abstract

Evidence from fish remains recovered from two sites in the Northern Isles of Scotland is compared to modern data on fish ecology and ethnographic evidence to assess seasonality in terms of resource availability and its implications for economic activities.     

Black Cyclope neritea Marine Shell Ornaments in the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic of Franchthi Cave,Greece: Arguments for Intentional Heat Treatment

Abstract

The prehistoric site of Franchthi Cave yielded an exceptionally rich collection of personal ornaments. A reassessment of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ornaments from the site led to the hypothesis that a variable fraction of at least one type of personal ornaments, i.e. marine shell beads belonging to the species Cyclope neritea, may have been intentionally heated to change their natural whitish color to black. The limited conditions in which blackening can occur through heating, as well as comparison with the percentage of burnt land snails, animal bones, fish bones, and marine molluscan food remains in the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sequence, supports a special heat treatment for Cyclope neritea shells at Franchthi Cave.