Managing Archaeological Sites – International Policies

International law has no teeth.  Everyone knows it, but this does not stop the international community from getting together each year for various conventions.  These conventions produce policies, laws, charters, declarations, and recommendations.  Since I (as most archaeologists) will be working in a country (Egypt) that I am not a citizen of, it is good to understand some of the trends in thinking of the international community over the last century.  This post will review the general trends of thought over that time.

Early efforts were focused on not fighting each other.  These took place during or shortly after the World Wars.  These meetings also were concerned with the best ways to preserve sites and whether or not to reconstruct them.  In the 50’s the international community seemed to be mostly interested in “being modern” and ensuring that “stuff” wasn’t destroyed.

The 1960’s saw the creation of the famous Venice Charter (which dealt with conservation and restoration issues).  This charter would affect thinking about archaeological sites for decades.  Other conventions were concerned with issues of access and landscapes around monuments.  The World Heritage Convention and the Burra Charter both happened in the 70’s.  This decade saw issues regarding historic towns and buildings.  The 80’s were mostly concerned with tourism and ethics.

The 1990’s, saw the most conventions ever held around the world.  Topics ranged from the protection of archaeological sites to development concerns.  Issues of authenticity (with the Nara document), sustainability, and environment were important.  Also it was in this decade that the “New Burra Charter” was written.  It is thought that the increase in the number of conventions in the 90’s was due to the felt need in the heritage community of being visible on an international stage.  In order for local laws to be written to recognize the international “suggestions”, it was important to speak to politicians.  This happened to mixed success. 

In this last decade (2000’s) globalization was the big issue with concerns over identity theft, cultural diversity, the value of heritage, the preservation of digital and intangible heritage, and the interpretation of culture heritage.  With the global
recession, there just wasn’t the funds available or the need to keep up the large number of conventions.  It was felt that the heritage community should chose its fights and focus only on what really mattered.

Today, the trend is for stability.  There is a push to resist change and remain diverse.  There is still a strong emphasis on “hating” ourselves in the heritage community in order to recognize non-western philosophies on culture.  There also is an increase in the feeling of being more transparent in site management.  And there is a call for higher more reliable monitoring.

This sort of study helps to ground us in the present by showing us where we have been so we can see the trend of where we might be going in the near future.