Cultural
heritage management (CHM) is the vocation and practice of managing cultural
heritage. It is a branch of cultural resources management (CRM), although it
also draws on the practices of cultural conservation, restoration, museology,
archaeology, history and architecture. While the term cultural heritage is
generally used in Europe, in the USA the term cultural resources is in more
general use specifically referring to cultural heritage resources. CHM has
traditionally been concerned with the identification, interpretation,
maintenance, and preservation of significant cultural sites and physical
heritage assets, although intangible aspects of heritage, such as traditional
skills, cultures and languages are also considered. The subject typically receives
most attention, and resources, in the face of threat, where the focus is often
upon rescue or salvage archaeology. Possible threats include urban development,
large-scale agriculture, mining activity, looting, erosion or unsustainable
visitor numbers. The public face of CHM, and a significant source of income to
support continued management of heritage, is the interpretation and
presentation to the public, where it is an important aspect of tourism.
Communicating with government and the public is therefore a key competence.
THE
DEVELOPMENT OF CHM
CHM
has its roots in the rescue archaeology and urban archaeology undertaken
throughout North America and Europe in the years surrounding World War II and
the succeeding decades. Salvage projects were hasty attempts to identify and
rescue archaeological remains before they were destroyed to make room for large
public-works projects or other construction. In the early days of salvage
archaeology, it was nearly unheard-of for a project to be delayed because of the
presence of even the most fascinating cultural sites, so it behooved the
salvage archaeologists to work as fast as possible. Although many sites were
lost, much data was saved for posterity through these salvage efforts.
In
more recent decades, legislation has been passed that emphasizes the
identification and protection of cultural sites, especially those on public
lands. In the United States, the most notable of these laws remains the
National Historic Preservation Act. The administration of President Lyndon B.
Johnson was most instrumental in passing and developing this legislation,
although it has been extended and elaborated upon since. These laws make it a
crime to develop any federal lands without conducting a cultural resources
survey in order to identify and assess any cultural sites that may be affected.
In the United Kingdom, PPG 16 has been instrumental in improving the management
of historic sites in the face of development.
The
subject has developed from an emphasis on preservation of material culture (by
record if not by physical remains), to encompass the broader concepts of
culture, which are inseparable from the local communities. Modern thinking
takes the view that cultural heritage belongs to the people, therefore access
to cultural heritage has to be ensured. The public reaction to the proposed
destruction of the Newport ship shows the importance of heritage to local
communities.
The
legislation of individual nations is often based upon ratification of UNESCO
conventions, such as the 1972 World Heritage Convention, the Valletta treaty
and the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.
Specific legislation is sometimes needed to ensure the appropriate protection
of individual sites recognized as World Heritage Sites.
CULTURAL
HERITAGE ASSESSMENT
While
archaeological sites remain the primary focus for many CRM professional, others
research historical records or on ethnohistorical projects. Public outreach
also falls within their purview. A recent concept is Traditional Cultural
Property or TCP. These are places with cultural importance to a group that may
not be either particularly historical or an archaeological site. An example
would be a location used for contemporary Native American religious events that
has no archaeological remains.
A
phase of evaluation is considered important in assessing the significance of a
possible cultural heritage site. This can comprise a desk-based study,
interviews with informants in the community, a wide-area survey, or trial trenching.
In North America, survey normally includes either walking ploughed fields in
5–10-metre transects or digging shovel test pits at the same intervals. The
soil from the test pits is sifted through 6 mm mesh to look for artifacts. If
artifacts are found, the next stage of investigation is usually digging and
sifting a spaced grid of test pits (1 m by 1 m trenches) to determine how large
or significant the site is.
MITIGATION
In
the United Kingdom and Canada, all forms of development, public and private,
are subject to archaeological requirements, while in the United States this
work can only be undertaken in federally funded projects or those on
government-owned land, except in a few states that have laws that apply also to
private land.
Where
archaeological requirements apply to a site of proposed development, if no
significant archaeological or other cultural property sites are found in the
impacted area, construction may proceed as planned, often with the requirement
that archaeologists are on-site providing a watching brief. If potentially
significant remains are found, construction may be delayed to allow for
evaluation of the site or sites found within the impacted area. This is done to
determine the archaeological site's true significance. If archaeologists
determine the site contains important/significant cultural remains, the adverse
effects on the site must be mitigated. Site mitigation can involve avoiding the
site through redesigning the development or excavating only a percentage of the
site. In the U.S., these restrictions involve any federal project involving the
possible disturbance of cultural resources and can also extend to state and
private developments if they involve public waterways or federal funds.
If
archaeologists determine the site contains highly significant cultural remains,
the adverse development effects on the site must be mitigated through a
structured programme that is often long and expensive. Mitigation can include
preservation by record i.e. the site is destroyed by archaeological excavation
rather than by the development and meticulous recording transfers the physical
traces in the earth to information in archives. Mitigation also includes
construction techniques which ensure that archaeological remains are protected
in undisturbed parts of the site or even underneath the development. An example
of this type of mitigation is the Viking remains at York.
Important
sites are designated as being protected by the state so that no development at
all can take place, and governments also recommend the most important sites to
be recognised as World Heritage Sites.
THE
EFFECT OF CHM ON ARCHAEOLOGY
CHM
has been a mixed blessing for archaeology. Preservation legislation has ensured
that no valuable site will be destroyed by construction without study, but the
work of rescue archaeologists is sometimes controversial. Some academic
archaeologists do not take archaeological rescue or salvage work seriously
because of its emphasis on site identification and preservation rather than
intensive study and analysis. Where archaeology is motivated by proposed
development, the archaeological contracts are placed through a bidding process.
The choice of archaeological contractor typically lies with the developer and
there is little incentive to prevent the company responsible for construction
selecting the bid with the lowest price estimate, or shortest investigation
time, regardless of the archaeological merits of the submitted bids.
The
impact of archaeological rescue and salvage work has been considerable; given
the large amount of construction, and that the bulk of archaeological work in
the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom is developer led.
Unfortunately, the large number of reports written on the thousands of sites
dug each year are not necessarily published in public forums. So-called grey
literature is sometimes difficult for even archaeologists outside the developer
or the CRM organisation that performed the work to access. Some initiatives, notably
the OASIS project of the Archaeological Data Service in the UK, are beginning
to make the reports available to everyone.
HERITAGE
CURATION AND INTERPRETATION
Main
articles Heritage interpretation, Museology, Art conservation and restoration
Noticeboard
interpreting the protected wreck at Seaton Carew
Curation
refers to the long-term preservation and retention of heritage assets and to
providing access to them in a variety of forms. Fragile heritage assets may
need to be preserved in a special environment, and protected from light
(especially ultra-violet), humidity, fluctations in temperature and in some
cases, oxygen from the air. Large museums generally employ specialist
conservators as well as education officers, archivists and researchers. Museums
vary in their approach to interpretation ranging from traditional museums that
display collections of artefacts behind glass, with labels identifying each
item and giving provenance, to living museums which attempt to recreate a
historical place or period so that people can experience it. Within a single
museum, a range of approaches may be used including interpretative panels,
presenting artefacts in a realistic setting as they would have been
experienced, and creating interactive and virtual exhibits. Museums also have
processes to loan artefacts to other institutions or exhibitions.
Interpretative panels, and other signage, such as Blue plaques in the UK are
important in ensuring that cultural heritage is understood in the context of
the local community.
HISTORIC
PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION
A
scene on the West Somerset Railway
Preservation
and restoration usually refers to architectural or engineering heritage assets
such as heritage buildings or other structures and Heritage railways. The UK
has a number of different forms of protection for buildings and structures,
including listed buildings, conservation areas and Scheduled Ancient Monuments.
In France a building or other structure can be protected as a Monument
historique. Successful heritage management for a building generally requires
that the building continues to be used, as disused buildings are likely to
deteriorate quickly. If the purpose for which the building was originally
constructed is no longer viable, then other uses, often requiring sympathetic
modification must be found.
Heritage
machinery, such as antique or vintage cars and heritage railways can best be
understood and are best accessed and experienced by the public when they are in
an operational condition. Moreover, the heritage skills associated with such
heritage assets, such as driving a steam locomotive, can only be maintained if
the machinery is used. Restoration to a working, if not pristine condition, and
creation of exact working replicas are therefore part of the practice of
heritage management.
MANAGING
INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE
A
reconstruction of a Bronze Age dwelling at Flag Fen
The
intangible cultural heritage consists of traditional skills, beliefs,
traditions, oral traditions, music, songs, dance, drama etc. These cannot be
stored in a museum but are constantly reinterpreted by the people in a
particular cultural region. The management of intangible cultural heritage is
difficult as it requires consideration of the lives and living conditions of
local communities. Some countries such as India and the members of the African
union have recognised the importance of cultural resources and established
government departments to manage them.
[FROM WIKIPEDIA, THE FREE ENCYCLOPEDIA]
0 Comments
