This article presents an interesting controversial topic. What are your thoughts? Should the private sector be allowed to become involved in the sector of archaeology and antiquities? Heres a paragraph from our blog post about Archaeological Preservation that gives context to how different countries manage cultural heritage: Archaeology is partially regulated in the United States, and the work itself is primarily carried out in the private sector. This is in contrast to countries with an overarching policy which considers archaeological sites to be national assets; Examples include France, Scandinavia, and Scotland. In these countries, the government acts as the sole custodian of historic properties and is the principal financial contributor to research. In the US, archaeological sites exist on private property, on federal public and protected lands, and on lands controlled by states and other local governments (such as tribal lands). The sites are then recorded and maintained by a designated agency respective to the land-ownership. As far as private property is concerned, the responsibility of protecting historical sites falls on the land owner or to organizations such as the Archaeological Conservancy who acquire portions of the land with the historical site. Many of the sites we acquire are then turned over to a government agency for management. The archaeologist who made the suggestion to privatize archaeology in Greece is proposing that the whole kitten kaboodle be housed in the private sector: purchase of the property, the maintenance of the ruins, the guarding of the grounds, the construction of the museum, the storage of finds, the conservation of artifacts, the building of a hotel, restaurant, gift shop and so forth There are pros and cons to each side here, especially coming from a country where traditionally cultural remains are managed through national policy. Is there a fine line between privatizing for preservation and profit-driven plans to commercialize local heritage?
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 18:00:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015