Assessing stories before sites: identifying the tangible from the intangible

Despite a growing recognition that intangible heritage forms an important part of the significance of heritage sites, and that intangible values are intertwined with material resources and spaces, many procedures for the identification and management of heritage sites remain unchanged and fail to integrate these two sets of values. The conservation of heritage sites continues to be dominated by a process that first identifies a material site and then identifies the associated values that comprise its significance. This paper suggests that rather than identifying the physical expression of heritage as the initial point of heritage assessment, the stories (or intangible values) of a region or national history can form the primary mechanism for identifying physical heritage sites. Using the example of Australian government policies of Aboriginal segregation and assimilation, we suggest how national stories – or intangible values – might be used to identify representative sites.     

In search of the optimum Raman/IR signatures of potential ingredients used in San/Bushman rock art paint

Vibrational spectroscopy (Raman and FTIR) has played an important role in identifying pigments, substrata and deterioration products in rock art studies worldwide: in the laboratory and on-site. However, the detection of organic binders and carrying agents has so far been scarce and the quality of many spectra recorded on-site inadequate. In this study, possible pigments (charcoal, ochre, raptor faeces, thermally treated ostrich egg shell, etc.), binders (fat, egg, blood) and carrying agents (saliva, gall, egg, water) were selected based on artistic considerations and analysed with FTIR and Raman (514.6 and 785 nm excitation, both available in mobile instruments) spectroscopy in order to determine usable marker bands for each ingredient. The resultant marker bands were then used to analyse five ten year old San replica paints. It was found that FTIR spectroscopy is very efficient to identify organic compounds as there is no fluorescence but the broadness of the bands inhibits the exact assignment of many ingredients. A high fluorescence background experienced for many natural products prevented the recording of Raman spectra for all ingredients, in many instances though the sharp peaks usually associated with Raman spectra make identification easier than with FTIR spectroscopy. Most of the ingredients in the paints could be identified, but it is clear that better results are obtained when more that one technique is used.     

Identification of ancient starch grains from the tribe Triticeae in the North China Plain

Both macrofossil and microfossil plant remains from the grass family (Poaceae) have been recovered from Neolithic and historic sites in China. Basing our work on the plant taxa that were previously recovered, we analyzed the economically significant genera for modern starch grain analysis with a focus on the important tribe Triticeae. Modern starch grains from the tribe Triticeae were compared with those from other grasses, and criteria for identification were determined. In total, 38 species within 28 genera, 13 tribes and 4 subfamilies were selected for analysis. Results demonstrate that starch grains from members of the tribe Triticeae are discernible from those of other tribes by their distinctive lenticular morphologies and surficial pressure craters. A dichotomous key covering 10 species within 7 genera of the Triticeae was created, thus allowing identification of members of the tribe to the level of genus. Application of the dichotomous key to the ancient starch assemblage recovered from lithic tools excavated from the early Neolithic site of Donghulin demonstrates that plants from the genera Hordeum and Agropyron were exploited alongside millets at this site.     

Confronting Conservation at Mount Elgon,Uganda

National parks remain at the centre of conservation efforts in Africa, although the long established strategy of conservation through law enforcement is now supplemented by participatory strategies such as community conservation. These new strategies have not changed the preservationist thrust of conservation policy and action. The relationships between parks and people are best understood as struggles in which ‘park neighbours’ use covert and overt ‘weapons of the weak’ to challenge the hegemony of conservation. This study of a national park in Uganda describes and analyses these forms of resistance.