Tourism and Archaeological Heritage Management at Petra: Driver to Development Or Destruction? PDF
Preview Tourism and Archaeological Heritage Management at Petra: Driver to Development Or Destruction?
SpringerBriefs in Archaeology Archaeological Heritage Management For furthervolumes: http://www.springer.com/series/10187 Douglas C. Comer Tourism and Archaeological Heritage Management at Petra Driver to Development or Destruction? 123 Dr. DouglasC. Comer International CommitteeonArchaeological Heritage Management (ICAHM) 2113St.PaulStreet Baltimore MD21218 USA e-mail: [email protected] ISSN 1861-6623 e-ISSN 2192-4910 ISBN 978-1-4614-1480-3 e-ISBN978-1-4614-1481-0 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-1481-0 SpringerNewYorkDordrechtHeidelbergLondon LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2011940846 (cid:2)TheAuthor(s)2012 Allrightsreserved.Thisworkmaynotbetranslatedorcopiedinwholeorinpartwithoutthewritten permissionofthepublisher(SpringerScience+BusinessMedia,LLC,233SpringStreet,NewYork,NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdevelopedisforbidden. Theuseinthispublicationoftradenames,trademarks,servicemarks,andsimilarterms,eveniftheyare notidentifiedassuch,isnottobetakenasanexpressionofopinionastowhetherornottheyaresubject toproprietaryrights. Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) This volume is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Fawwaz Al-Khraysheh, Director- General of Antiquities of Jordan from 1999 to 2010, who worked tirelessely for the preservation of the archaeological heritage in Jordan, the region, and internationally. Series Foreword When I was elected a member of the Executive Committee in 1981 my candi- dature, which was strongly backed by the UK National Committee, was based on whatIperceivedtobetheneglectofthearchaeologicalheritagebyICOMOS.This struck a chord within the many archaeologist members, and a vigorous campaign ledtotheeventualcreationofICAHMattheGeneralAssemblyinWashingtonDC in 1984, though not without opposition on the part of some senior ICOMOS members. ThenewScientificCommitteesetitselftwotasksintheitsfirstthreeyears:the creation of a world database of archaeological heritage protection and manage- ment institutions and the drafting of an ICOMOS charter for the protection and management of the archaeological heritage. ICAHM began seriously promoting its objectives to the wider archaeological communityaswellastotheICOMOSNationalCommitteesin1986,whenthefirst President, Margareta Biörnstad, Head of the Swedish National Heritage Board (Riksantivarieämbetet)gaveapapertotheFirstWorldArchaeologicalConference in Southampton [1]. The first presentation of the ICAHM Charter to a wider specialist audience was at a conference in Stockholm (Lund 1989). The response oftheaudiencesatbotheventswasenthusiastic,andtheCharterfortheProtection and Management of the Archaeological Heritage was finally approved by the 9th ICOMOS General Assembly in Lausanne in 1990. ThemainthemeoftheStockholmconference[2]wasaverytopicaloneatthat time,‘‘ArchaeologyandSociety:Large-scalerescueoperations—theirpossibilities and problems.’’ The 1994 ICAHM Conference in Canada [3] similarly addressed an issue of global concern for archaeologists and heritage managers, ‘‘Archaeo- logical Remains: In situ Preservation). There has been something of a hiatus in ICAHMconferenceorganization andpublicationsincethattime,andsothelatest initiative of publishing a series of ICAHM Briefs is highly commendable. Once again, ICAHM has identified a theme that is of intense concern to archaeologists, scientists, historians, architects, and site managers all round the world.Thearchaeologicalheritagehasinrecentdecadesbecomeamajorthemeof tourism, and at the same time a source of revenue for both public and private vii viii SeriesForeword owners.Theimpactofrapidlygrowingtouristnumbersonarchaeologicalsitesand monuments of all kinds, many of which are fragile and vulnerable, is often shockinglyvisible.Notonlyisitphysicaldamagethatisinflictedonthisheritage: whilst local communities may benefit economically, they are at the same time rendered vulnerable to the many forms of political and economic change that our present societies are increasingly being exposed to. Overthepasthalf-centuryIhavebeenfortunateenoughtovisitarchaeological sites and monuments all round the world in several capacities—as student, tour guide, management consultant, and ICOMOS expert evaluator of properties nominated for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It has been instructive, for example (and not infrequently depressing), to observe how the conditionofcertainmonumentshasdeterioratedover,andmoreespeciallybefore and after World Heritage Listing. I know two of the four World Heritage monu- ments selected by ICAHM for this news series in this way. MyfirstvisittoPetrawasin1947whenIwentfromGaza,wheremyregiment was stationed, in a Jeep with a fellow-officer to look at the ‘‘rose-red city half as old as time.’’ When I see David Roberts engravings or paintings from the mid- nineteenthcenturyIamtakenbackinstantlytowhatIsawthen,aromanticscene ofruinsandBedouinsthatseemedtobeexistinghappilyside-by-sidewithoutany impact on one another. Nowadays the Bedu have been banished, along with their livestock, and the site is populated only by tourists and tour guides, who are unwittingly causing greater damage to the remains than their predecessors. It was again thanks to the British army that I paid my first visit to Pompeii. I wentwithaconvoyoftrucksdownfromVeneziaGiulia,wheremyregimentwas stationed, to purchase wine, cheese, and other goodies before we left for the rigoursofPalestine,andacoupleofustooktheopportunitytoexplorePompeiifor an afternoon. It cannot be denied that it was then in a sorry state, and I saw little improvement in the decades that followed. Despite the efforts of Pier Giovanni Guzzo and his colleagues over the past decade or so, the experience is still a depressing one: a combination of ill-managed visits to some ‘‘honeypot’’ features and local corruption siphoning off much of the enormous revenue from entrance fees. These are high-profile examples of the way in which tourist development is degrading the archaeological heritage. I have witnessed countless other examples on less famous, though equally significant, sites and monuments elsewhere in the world.OnmymostrecentvisittotheAcropolisinAthensIwasappalledtoseethe crowdsoftouristsswarmingoverthesite:attimesIwasremindedmoreoffootball crowds at Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea take on Manchester United. The atmosphere was oppressive and the impact of so many feet on the steps and terraces was plainly visible. The millions of visitors to the stretch of the Great Wall at Badaling, near Beijing, cause physical damage that requires continuous conservation and reconstruction, a situation that is duplicated in Agra at the Taj Mahal. The time is overdue for an intensive and objective review of the relationship between the protection and interpretation of the heritage on the one hand and SeriesForeword ix latter-day exploitation for profit, since the significance and preservation of this heritageareseriouslythreatened.ICAHMhasavitalroletoplayinthisreviewand in the development of policies and procedures that will benefit both the past and the present. Henry Cleere Member of the ICOMOS Executive Committee from 1981 to 1990 First Vice-President of ICAHM ICOMOS World Heritage Coordinator from 1992 to 2002 References 1. BiörnstadM(1989)TheICOMOSinternationalcommitteeonarchaeologicalheritageman- agement(ICAHM).In:CleereHF(ed)Archaeologicalheritagemanagementinthemodern World.UnwinHyman,London,pp70–75 2. Trotzig G, Vahlne G (eds) (1989) Archaeology and Society: large scale rescue operations theirpossibilitiesandproblems(ICAHMReportNo.1).TheNordicSecretariatofICAHM, Stockholm 3. Mousseau C (ed) (1996) Vestiges archéologiques: La conservation in situ/Archaeological Remains:InSituPreservation.ICAHMPublication,Ottawa AuthorBiography HenryCleereswitchedhiscareertoarchaeologyafterworkinginthesteel industry for nearly twenty years, eventually obtaining his PhD in 1980 at the Institute of ArchaeologyofUniversityCollegeLondon(wherehehasbeenHonoraryProfessorofArchae- ological Heritage Management since 1998). He was Director of the Council for British Archaeologyfrom1974to1991,followedby11years(1992to2002)inParisasWorldHeritage CoordinatorfortheInternationalCouncilonMonumentsandSites(ICOMOS).Sincethattimehe has been a consultant on the management aspects of World Heritage and other urban and archaeological sites in a number of countries, including Bahrain, China, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Tunisia, and Ukraine. He has edited two major works on heritage management: Approaches to the Archaeological Heritage (Cambridge, 1984) and ArchaeologicalHeritageManagementintheModernWorld(London,1989).Afoundermember and first Secretary General of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA), he was the recipientofitsEuropeanHeritageAwardin2002.In2010hereceivedtheannualConservation and Management Award of the Archaeological Institute of America. He is currently a Senior AdvisortotheUS-basedGlobalHeritageFund.
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