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CHeritage.html
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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title>Cultural Heritage</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="fab.css">
</head>
<body>
<h1>Federico Buccellati</h1>
<h2>Cultural Heritage</h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<figure><img src="images/Students%20learning%20at%20MZ.png" alt="University Field Trip to Mozan"
title="University Field Trip to Mozan" style="width: 25.9%;"> <img
src="images/School%20trip%20to%20MZ.jpg" alt="School Trip to Mozan" title="School Trip to Mozan"
style="width: 22%;"> <img src="images/Students%20MZ%20Spring%202018.jpg"
alt="On-site learning project" title="On-site learning project" style="width: 22%;"><figcaption><i>Middle
school and university students learning at Tell Mozan.</i></figcaption></figure>
</div>
<h5> Cultural Heritage – Individual</h5>
<p> Cultural Heritage involves a wide spectrum, working from an individual
level to community and beyond to the wider society, as well as on a
scholarly level. On an individual level, one of the most important aspects
of cultural heritage is a commonality of perception – not only visual, but
including sound, smell and touch as well. The ancients constructed their
material world based on interactions; these interactions can still be
studied today, because the experiential frame of reference is the same. To
provide a modern visitor the chance to experience ancient architecture
speaks to a ‘shared’ experience. This also speaks to the debate on
authenticity vs. ‘pastness’ - the experience is shared only when the
environment comes directly from the archaeological record. My own work in
Mozan has focused on aspects of perception in an excavation environment in
the area of the temple terrace (see my article “The Monumental Temple
Terrace at Urkesh and its Setting” submitted with this application) as
well as the AP Palace, where the conservation program included aspects of
visibility. </p>
<h5> Cultural Heritage – Community </h5>
<p>Cultural Heritage also speaks to the community in which an archaeological
field project is embedded. The concept of stakeholders has particular
meaning within the Tell Mozan project. Over the many years in the field, I
have given dozens of lectures to the local workmen, which were regularly
conducted on a weekly basis. This constant interaction, over years, helped
build stakeholders. Further lectures I gave in whole or in part were to
local schoolchildren, association members (such as architects), local
municipal workers and of course visitors, whether tourists or dignitaries.
This interaction with local communities has given an immense strength and
resilience to the Mozan project, as it became evident in the last five
years, since archaeological fieldwork became impossible. Despite the
difficulties facing the area, the project continues to employ six local
staff whom I am supervising through various intermediate channels; they
document (using digital photography) changing conditions at the site,
record pottery lots from earlier seasons, digitize old records and
maintain the conservation structures. This great success is also due to
the sense of pride that the local community has in the site, where those
people who came to know the site while being excavated (mayors, water
departments, cultural centers in addition to local residents) are now
those defending it. </p>
<h5> Cultural Heritage – Society </h5>
<p>Cultural Heritage has also an impact on a wider level. The current
conflict in Syria has seen targeted destruction in many museums and
cultural sites – this is not an example of random violence, nor is it done
to ‘spite’ western sensibilities. Instead, the destruction of cultural
heritage is an attempt to remold national (or regional) identity by
destroying select material elements of the past. By choosing what to
destroy and what to keep, pretenders to political power bring to the fore
those traditions which benefit them in a two-way legitimization process.
Rather ironically, one of the first examples of such an attempt at
legitimization can be found in one of the traditions at risk today in the
ISIS controlled territories – the King of Shekna, Shamshi-Addu, conquers a
large swath of Mesopotamia in the early part of the second millennium BC,
founding what is known today as the Paleo-Assyrian empire. In an attempt
to legitimize his claim to the newly-conquered city of Assur, he has his
scribes write a list of kings showing his hereditary claim to the throne.
This king-list is as clearly fictitious today as it would have been to
Shamshi-Addu’s peers. Such ties between the past and the present show both
continuity in questions of political legitimization as well as the
importance of understanding the past as formative for the present. </p>
<h5> Cultural Heritage – Scholarship </h5>
<p>There is an inherent risk in the presence of foreign scholars working
with communities and contributing to elements which form a social identity
– colonialism. As archaeologists, we are called to ‘stage the past’ in a
myriad of ways, from a scholarly article to interviews given on
television. And since the ‘stage’ and the ‘play’ (to continue the
metaphor) are intrinsically intertwined on several different levels, the
message received by an audience may be ‘charged’ in a way that its author
never intended. The strength of studies focused on Heritage and Politics
of the Past is that these levels of interplay between the past and the
present become a subject of scrutiny, better enabling all archaeologists
to craft their message in order to better communicate to their audience.
Further, cultural heritage studies can aid us in being better
archaeologists in that the conceptual framework developed for the modern
world can also aid us in understanding the past; such an effort should be
intrinsic to the discipline, but is often sidelined to the detriment of
the field. By abiding by these principles, I feel that a live concern for
cultural heritage has contributed not only to the awareness of the
stakeholders for their past, but to the archaeology as well. The Mozan
project has been recognized for these qualities, and I feel that when,
hopefully, I am able to resume my work at the site I will continue to
blend the two aspects and develop the project further to make even more
responsive to these critical needs.</p>
<h5> Cultural Heritage – Legal and Political Aspects </h5>
<p> In May of 2014 I gave a paper with the title “A Stakeholder Success
Story: The Eco-Archaeological Park at Tell Mozan, Syria” in the Culture
Under Threat: The Future of the Hague Convention Conference jointly
organized by the WAC Inter-Congress, Blue Shield, Newcastle University,
and American University in Rome. This gave me the opportunity to meet
several people in the field, in particular P. Stone and P. Gerstenblith.
My contribution was based on my extensive work at Tell Mozan during the
last few years during the crisis in Syria, and included aspects of ethics
and safeguards for cultural heritage which were missing in Syria and might
aid other countries to avoid some of the same problems. As the only
speaker presenting material from an archaeological excavation, the example
of Tell Mozan was quite useful in the following discussions on the
formulation of a WAC statement regarding cultural heritage. I have also
participated in UNESCO organized meetings such as the “Follow-up to the
implementation of the UNESCO Action Plan for the Emergency Safeguarding of
Syria’s Cultural Heritage” held in Berlin (June 2016). </p>
</body>
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