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Heritage Management……..what do we as archaeologists understand by that?
Is the heritage managed for its own sake & preserved for future generations or is it managed to make a quick buck today?
Possibly it is a fine balance between preserving/conserving a public resource but at the same time generating income from that resource that can be ploughed back into conservation.
Personally I think we are beginning to slip into the Dinsney heritage park approach
The theme park "Historic Briton" might help the economic crises but will it compromise our heritage?
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It's a tricky one, as I'm sort of a 'heritage tourist', or was when I came here the first two times. How much do tourists contribute to the UK economy and could it survive without them? Would the money that flows in be replaced by something else or is access to heritage sites a reasonable swap for money to maintain them. A quick glance at the stats from the ONS site showed the following:
Quote:Three-month trends (seasonally adjusted)
In February 2010 to April 2010, the seasonally adjusted number of visits by overseas residents to the UK decreased by 5 per cent to 7.1 million, when compared with the previous three months. Associated spending by overseas residents on visits to the UK decreased by 5 per cent to ?3.8 billion.
So, even during the volcanic interruptions, the drop was only 5%, still accounting for almost ?4 billion. That's for one quarter, making tourism to the UK worth at least ?16 billion a year, as I would imagine the summer quarter and the winter one (holiday times) would be reasonably higher.
What part of that money would have to disappear if access to sites was limited due to the desire to not be Anglo-Disney? What level of wear and tear is acceptable? Should access to sites be income-driven, or is that just a subtle form of class-ism? Poor families not being able to access heritage sites mean that they aren't exposed to their own heritage while tourists blithely wander across the landscape?
Prime practitioner of headology, with a side order of melting glass with a stern glare.
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Wax Wrote:Personally I think we are beginning to slip into the Dinsney heritage park approach
The theme park "Historic Briton" might help the economic crises but will it compromise our heritage?
It will be up there with the "Gone With The Wind 'Frankly My' Deer Park"!!
20,000 at the ceremony this morning...are they paying customers do you thnk?
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Merlot in one hand, Cigar in the other; body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, what a ride!
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At ?1 a head it would be a nice little sum but in reality would it pay for the security, and clean up costs? I suspect the solstice is a financial loss but in terms of good will and publicity a must.
Still remember my first visit to the stones before they were fenced off when the ground was bare around the stones and the visitors clambered on them and removed bits. I still think you need to touch the stones and stand directly under them to apprecaite them hence I now prefer Avebury.
Maybe some sites do have to go down the "Theme Park" route to allow other sites to survive?
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(rant about access to Stonehenge deleted) The idea that there have to be clean-up costs too is beyond belief. Ifpeople are there for religious reasons, there's no excuse for the litter left behind. Cherishing the earth doesn't mean leaving crap all over it when you're done.
I enjoy the visits to Castlerigg but I'd like to walk through Stonehenge just one time, without having to pay a surcharge.
Prime practitioner of headology, with a side order of melting glass with a stern glare.
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If no one had ever left litter there wouldn't be much archaeology.....
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Dinosaur Wrote:If no one had ever left litter there wouldn't be much archaeology.....
True, but inadvertent litter is different than mass disregard for a site regarded as a World Heritage site.
There was an excavation of the Iron-age roundhouse at St Fagan's, when it was being taken down. They were amazed at how much they found. It wasn't heaps of refuse slung away by the lazy and ignorant, though.
Prime practitioner of headology, with a side order of melting glass with a stern glare.
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Did a job in 1998 re-trial trenching a site that had been more extensively trial trenched previously in 1983 and 1984 although the earlier trench location info had gone astray. Managed to figure out exactly where my trench was in relation to both the previous trenches purely on the basis of the sell-by dates on stratified Mars Bar wrappers and Coke cans (the previous crew must have had appalling teeth, that's all they seem to have been existing on). Also done a re-excavation job where all the previously excavated features had cigar packets in. Litter's good stuff in my book :face-approve:
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I once confirmed the location of a decade old trial trench using the sell by date on a Mullerlight carton, suggesting the previous team were either healthy eaters or on a diet.
On another (world famous) site, I re-explored areas dug in the 1920's and found World War One helmets, suggesting shell-shocked, traumatised archaeologists taking refuge from real life.
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Personally I'm not sure why Stonehenge 'needs' a visitor centre :face-thinks:
