Theme 1: Archaeology and Politics

• Heritage values


  Meaning and values individuals/groups bestow on heritage
• Types of heritage


  • Tangible (collections, buildings, archaeological sites, landscapes)
  • Intangible (traditions - food, dance, music)
• Value classifications


  • Historical (until 1945)
  • Economic (tourism)
  • Social values
  • Scientific
• Burra charter 1979 (Australia)


  Need to assess significance of place before policy decisions were made => appearance of values-led approach in heritage management + local communities voiced
• Understand the place


  1. Assess significance

  2. Develop policy
• European Heritage Strategy for 21st century (council of Europe)

  • Social component
  • Territorial and economic development
  • Knowledge and education
• Europe: Council of Europe

  • Valletta Convention 1992
  • European Landscape Convention 2001
  • Faro Convention 2005
• Valletta Convention 1992


  • Multilateral treaty + international legally binding within Europe
  • "Malta-archaeology"
• Objectives of Valletta Convention 1992

  • Integrate archaeology into urban planning
  • Cooperations and consultation processes
  • Set standards for funding, archaeology and conservational methods
  • Promote educational actions and public awareness
• London 1969


  • Importance of archaeological heritage
  • Professionalisation of archaeological excavations
  • Protecting archaeological sites
  • Against illicit trade
• Dutch Monuments Act 1988


  • Excavation permit for government agencies
  • Protecting by listing monuments
  • Banning of illegal digging
  • Ownership of archaeological heritage
• The need to create shared memories - political influence
• European integration and globalisation (1945 - present) - Leaders depend on national identity to spread their political agenda
• Archaeology and human rights = treaties and conventions cannot prevent atrocities
• Mass graves as a results of genocides => conceal the crime and prevent individual identification
• Legal framework: after WW2 => UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Forensic archaeology


  Exhumation = genetic analysis so first find grave, excavate the grave (stratigraphy, recover evidence, document provenience, determine evidence is 'in-situ', limit postmortem damage), anthropological and forensic study
• Argentina: Dirty War (1976-1983) 9000 people disappeared into ocean and buried in anonymous graces, exhumation used to identify but complicated the investigation
• Archaeological contributions to Basque and Catalonian Nationalism
• 19th century: Spanish National History = Iberian Peninsula, Iberian South-east, Celtic North-west
• Commonality between archaeologists: search for their roots in prehistory
• Ayodhya - Many Indian archaeologists are content to attach ethnic and linguistic labels to newly discovered cultures (descriptive fashion)
• 16th century Babri mosque destroyed by Hindu fundamentalist militants (anti-Muslim nationalism)
• Consequences: BJP political party established emphasising Hindu identity as Indian identity in 80s => responsible for demolition as demonstration of Hindu supremacy (but did not directly destroy it)
• 1970s = first reflections on archaeology and social values
• 1980s = archaeology and politics
• Science itself is not value free (social and cultural forces)
• 1960s onwards "French theory" (influenced USA) - Critical regarding politics and society
• Analysis of power structures in society (needed to create change)
• Reflexive sociology: researcher need to reflect on their habitus (act as you learn)
• Social identity


  Feeling of belonging as individual to any concept (class, profession)
• Limitation: the freedom of diversity = stereotypes as narrative boundary
• Ideology


  Origins and ancestry
• Politics


  Compilation of frames and ideas that legitimises ideas regarding origins and superiority of cultures
• Concept of culture in archaeology - Key issues: Setting the agenda, Appropriation, Manipulation of archaeological record, Exclusion of alternative perspectives
• Material culture from past = meaning and importance in presence
• Meaning and importance are not value free
• Current heritage perspectives


  • Universal perspective: value of heritage (1970s)
  • European perspective: identity and memory (1990s)
  • Human rights perspective: wellbeing (2005)
• • 3 modes are reflected in declarations on heritage produced by Council of Europe: titles of declaration

  1. Protection of what is of value
  2. Politics of identity
  3. Wellbeing
• Benefits: consumption of places

  • Experience
  • Utility
  • Exploitation
  • Commercialisation
  • Tourism