Community archaeology and heritage interpretation

Abstract. Our paper presents the case study of a common framework that has been developed for the management of heritage resources in a peripheral and impoverished area of rural Asturias (Spain). The article further explores the potential of conceiving heritage as a common good for enhancement, preservation and public outreach purposes, considering the current crisis state of public institutions in the whole West due to the prevalence of neoliberal governmentality frameworks. Our research argues that the creation of a brand that equates the region of Asturias with a somehow pristine natural environment untouched by humans, and the public management frameworks of cultural heritage, undermine the immanent relation between communities and their heritage and renders ineffectively any attempt to achieve rural  sustainable development. We affirm that the consideration of heritage as a commons enables researchers, institutions and local communities to establish a more democratic and functional framework for the management, enhancement and preservation of heritage elements and facilitates the creation of democratic frameworks of decision making that foster sustainable development at a local scale.

K e y w o r d s:  heritage commons, rural sustainable development, cultural heritage, cultural resource management

This paper discusses the public response to and participation in Anglo-Saxon CSI: Sittingbourne -an investigative conservation lab working on finds from a 6th to 8th century Anglo-Saxon cemetery site in Sittingbourne, Kent. It is a unique community led heritage conservation project. It allows public access to the conservation techniques involved in treating objects from an archaeological dig. The project opened in late 2009 and has had more than 6,000 volunteer hours contributed to it and nearly 20,000 visitors. Conservation volunteers have been trained to work under supervision and discuss the conservation project with visitors.

Landscape studies have evolved into a significant branch of historical archaeological research, by placing emphasis on the ecological, economic, political and cultural values of pre-modern settled and sacred landscapes. The aim of our work is to support the systematic exploration of landscape archaeology in the Xeros River valley in Cyprus, through time, from prehistory to today, through the design and development of an Augmented Reality (AR) application. The AR application supports the exploration of pre-modern monuments and archaeological sites in the Xeros River valley, serving as a guided tour for visitors of the area. By employing image recognition and utilizing a location-based practice, the application provides the users with an immersive and educational experience. Initial reactions by experts in landscape studies indicate the potential of the application in enabling the narration and visualization of the historicity of the landscape and the fate of religious and other monuments of the past 1500 years.

Community archaeology is increasingly popular and it is often viewed as a straightforward endeavour: local people come together, often with the involvement of heritage professionals, tosurvey, dig and generally examine the archaeology of a site or area. Seemingly it ‘does what it says on the tin’. In reality, community archaeology is incredibly complicated (see Marshall 2009; Smith and Waterton 2009). Bottom-up projects, driven by local community groups, inevitably need expert help and the support of the heritage profession throughout the process. Thus a hierarchy of knowledge is created, complicating the community’s ownership and control over the project and their local heritage. Meanwhile top-down projects, driven by professional archaeologists, often engage with and enlist community groups for their work, but such a process can be equally alienating for the communities. Ultimately, community archaeology is always going to be an intervention into an existing social context where people are already actively producing and negotiating identities and where the past is plural and contested; constantly being remade, debated and negotiated (Greer et al 2002; Isherwood 2011; Jones 2015).

In 2006, upon the remains of the Roman city and legionary fortress of Viminacium, the Viminacium Archaeological Park was established. Since it was the first archaeological park in Serbia providing visitors with
necessary facilities, the team of researchers faced a lot of newly emerged challenges, commonly described with a
term of “cultural heritage management”.
In the last decade, excavations and physical protection of the ancient monuments were gradually joined by its
presentation and promotion, considered as equally important processes for the overall protection of Viminacium significance. All the efforts led to an increased public awareness of cultural importance of this ancient city,
which have been indicated with the ever-growing number of visitors from all over the world, but also with the
engagement of the members of local community as park employees, as well as consumers of cultural heritage
who actively participate in the promotion of Viminacium. Today, local authorities and touristic organisations
realize that they have to offer something internationally recognized in their own region, being proud as a part
of the global community sharing global heritage.

Abstract and Keywords
Management of sub-Saharan protected areas is at its peak, with most countries having signed up to international conventions aimed at protecting the natural environment and collectively managing political threats that are likely to emanate from other states’ interest to harness cross-border environmental resources. These conservation efforts however are at a broader perspective that does not cater for the nuances at varying scales of environmental resources conservation and management. This article looks at the micro scale of resources management and assesses conservation of landscape at a protected world heritage area to illustrate an existing gap that needs to be addressed by accounting for each and every category of resources found in any protected landscape. To illustrate this phenomenon this article discusses insights from two protected areas of world heritage
status in southern Africa: Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Park World Heritage site in Tanzania and Okavango Delta World Heritage site in Botswana.

Keywords: suffocated heritage; protected areas; sub-Saharan Africa; world heritage processes; Okavango Delta, Botswana; Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

The small Cretan village of Gonies Malevyziou has been the host and subject of the international field school Engaging Local Communities in Heritage Management through Archaeological Ethnography, run by the Heritage Management Organization (Athens, Greece), since 2014. Initially visited in 2010 for the excavation of the Minoan peak sanctuary of Philioremos (University of Kent, dir. Dr Evangelos Kyriakidis) (KYRIAKIDIS, forthcoming), which is situated on the mountain behind the village, Gonies itself rapidly became a place of ethnographic interest. Not only is it replete with historical and traditional buildings and objects, but it also hosts a population rich in, and proud of, local historical and cultural stories (KYRIAKIDIS and ANAGNOSTOPOULOS, 2016).
The 2017 field school research topic was material culture, and what its use and distribution can reveal about local practices, traditions, beliefs and gender roles. This paper presents the processes and results of this season as experienced by its participants. Below is an account by the four international students in archaeology, anthropology and heritage management who, under the guidance of a small team of professionals, received training in archaeological ethnography whilst residing in Gonies and undertaking month-long fieldwork research through direct engagement with the local population. The outcome of the 2017 season was a small exhibition -located within the village but advertised throughout the region and in the city of Heraklion- of objects
which the team and its interlocutors together selected as most expressive of life past and present in the village of Gonies.

Archaeology is important. The Archaeological Interests of the Austrians
This contribution presents the results of an opinion poll aimed at discovering the archaeological interests of the Austrian population. A randomly selected total of 500 people were interviewed between November 2013 and January 2014. The results are very satisfactory. 61 % of those questioned were somewhat interested, interested or very interested in archaeology and 85 % think that the archaeology is important or very important. The interviewees defined monuments primarily as objects which are particularly important
for research into the past. They also saw the absolute age of an object as playing an important role in the definition of a monument. The interviewees were also much more
selective than the current interpretation of the law and did not regard all archaeological finds or features as monuments, but only those which are of particular importance for research into the past. A majority of 59 % is in favour of public ownership of archaeological monuments. There is also considerable interest in active public involvement in archaeology – 58 % of those questioned would like or very much like to take part in archaeological activities. A right to participate in archaeological decisions is sought after by only a minority of 20 %, but this is a clear majority of those who are interested or very interested in archaeology. Bearing in mind that Austria has recently signed the Faro Convention, it seems appropriate to consider how the strong public interest in active participation in archaeological activity can – with professional supervision and coordination – be satisfied.