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Museum

International

Archaeological sites and site museums

Vol L, n2, april 1998

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STOLEN

Oil pain tin g on wood enti tled Boerenhoeve (A Farm) by Pieter Balten, dated 1581, monogram a t bottom

ri ght. Diam eter 23 cm. Estimated value NLG 150,000. Stolen on 13 Apri l 1997 fr om a mu seum in The Hague,

Netherlands. (Reference 6.165.1/97.6261, In terpol, The Hague.)

Photo by cour tesy of the ICPOIn terpol General Secretari at, Lyons (Fran ce)

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3 U N ESCO 1997ISSN 1350-0775,Museum Internation al (U N ESC O , Paris), N o. 198 (Vol. 50, N o. 2,1998) UN ESCO 1998Published by B lackw ell Publishers, 108 C ow ley Road, O xford, O X 4 1JF (UK ) and 350 M ain Street, M alden , M A 02148 (U SA)

Editorial

O n 26 N ovem ber 1922 the archaeologist H ow ard Carter lived w hat he later called the day

of days, the m ost w onderful that I have ever lived through. Standing before the sealed

door of the long-lost tom b of Tutankham en in Egypts Valley of the K ings, he m ade a sm all

opening and peered through it. W hen asked if he could see anything C arter replied, Yes,

w onderful things.H e w as, as he described, dum bstruck w ith am azem ent . . . as m y eyes

grew accustom ed to the light, details of the room w ithin em erged slow ly from the m ist,

strange an im als, statues and gold everyw here the glint of gold.1

The story of Carters opening of Tutankham ens tom b has passed into legend, illustrating

how the archaeologists discovery of the past thrills and fascinates us today. Schliem anns

unearthing of Troy, Bingham s find of M achu Picchu, the exploit of four adolescent boys w ho

stum bled on the French cave of Lascaux and so on: the list is long of the fabled rem ains that

archaeology has brought to light, firing our im agination and creating an ongoing dialogue

w ith the past. Yet this dialogue is com plex and not w ithout contradictions, for the clues, the

keys to unlocking the secrets of ancient w orlds, reside in the present and in those vestiges

that have survived the vagaries of tim e; w e cannot know w hat has been irretrievably lostw hich m ight shed a different light on w hat has rem ained.

But archaeology is nothing if not a lesson in resourcefulness, im agination and the

adaptation of science and technology to its ow n ends. Aerial photography, carbon dating,

pollen anaysis, satellite im agery and com puter sim ulation, are but a few of the advances

that have helped transform the archaeologists w ork. Biology, botany, chem istry, geology,

history, psychology and art are but som e of the disciplines that com e into play.

The success of archaeology in capturing the publics interest has, how ever, created new

challenges: the need for greater involvem ent of environm ental specialists in excavation

and field-w ork; the effects of m ass tourism and the establishm ent of that delicate balance

betw een the publics right of access to its cultural heritage and the w ell-being and very

survival of that heritage; the shift from a traditionally m ale-oriented interpretation and

em phasis on so-called m asculine activities hunting, toolm aking to a broader view of

how ancient societies m ay have functioned; a new aw areness and sensitivity to the view s

of indigenous peoples; a heightened concern w ith looting and illicit trade in archaeologi-

cal finds, to nam e but a few .2

W hat, then, is the role of the site m useum , that repository of fragm ents, artefacts and objects

in situ in their age-old context? H ow can it preserve, protect and above all m ake m eaningfulthe often random finds that could reconstruct past w ays of life and illum inate the processes

that underlie and condition hum an behaviour? Again, the issues are com plex, for they touch

on questions of politics and ethics, history and self-im age, w hich can in no w ay be w holly

scientificor objective, and w hich m ake clear that, in the last analysis, archaeology is no m ore

and no less than a critical contem porary discussion of the past. 3

U N ESCO has long been concerned w ith this subject; indeed, one of the O rganizationsearly norm ative instrum ents w as the Recom m endation on International Principles

Applicable to A rchaeological Excavations, adopted in D ecem ber 1956, w hich specifically

m entions the need for site m useum s. W e thus w ished to look at both the broader issues

now involved and the specific w ays in w hich m useum s are confronting them . O ur

profound thanks go to Rachel H achlili, professor in the departm ent of Archaeology and

M useum Studies at the U niversity of H aifa (Israel), w ho helped co-ordinate this special

dossier. H er breadth of know ledge, vision and enthusiasm w ere invaluable. M L

Notes

1. Arnold C. Brackm an, The Search for the Gold of Tutan khamen, N ew York, Sim on & Schuster, 1976.

2. Paul G . Bahn (ed.),The Cambri dge Illu stra ted History of Archaeology, C am bridge U niversity Press,1996.

3. Ibid.

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4

Rachel Hachli li

U N ESCO 1998

A question of interpretationRachel Hachli li

In recent years, the problems confr onti ng

si te museums al l over the world have

come to the fore. In May/Jun e 1993, they

were addressed at an in tern ational

symposium , In terpreting the Past:

Presenti ng Archaeologi cal Si tes to the

Publi c, conducted by the Un iversity of

Hai fa, Israel, and co-chai red by RachelHachli li. Subsequently, an i nternati onal

semin ar on a simi lar theme, UNESCO-

Forum: Uni versiti es and Heri tage, was

organi zed i n Valencia, Spain , in 1996,

and a second semin ar was convened in

Quebec, Canada, i n October 1997. I n

in troducing thi s special dossier Rachel

Hachli li evokes some of the problems

encoun tered by pr ofession als in volved

wi th site museums, ways in whi ch these

problems have been solved, an d n ew

developments in the field. The au thor wasa foun der of the Hecht Museum at the

Un iversity of Hai fa an d di rected i t for

four years; she also foun ded and di rected

the Museum Studi es Programme at the

un iversity an d has carri ed out fieldwork

at a n umber of excavations in Israel.

Among her publicati ons isAncient

Jew ish Art and Archaeology in the Land

of Israel, publi shed by Bri ll, Leiden.

ISSN 1350-0775,Museum In terna tional (U N ESCO , Paris), N o. 198 (Vol. 50, N o. 2,1998) U N ESCO 1998

Published by B lackw ell Publishers, 108 C ow ley Road, O xford, O X 4 1JF (U K ) and 350 M ain Street, M alden, M A 02148 (U SA)

The increase in archaeological excavations

all over the w orld w hich, during recent

years, have becom e tourist draw s, has

m agnified the problem of site presentation

to the public. It has becom e a m ajor

concern to m any archaeologists, archi-

tects, designers and m anagers of cultural

heritage. This popularity of archaeology isreflected in the publics fascination, re-

sponse and participation in such sites.

But before the public can be invited to visit

a site, how ever, it is necessary to ensure its

preservation and protection. Am ong the

different problem s confronting site m use-

um s are how to preserve both the archaeo-

logical sites after excavations and rescue

operations, how to m aintain the m aterial

evidence of the past, and how to ensure the

salvation of our cultural heritage. Alsoessential to the question of site m useum s is

how m uch inform ation is available for

display, and how m uch reconstruction can

be carried out.

O ther difficult choices confront m anagers of

national heritage in the face of financial and

tim e lim itations. W hich sites should

be rescued and w hich allow ed to be

destroyed? W hich parts of the past should be

preserved for the future? And, m ost im por-

tantly, on w hose behalf w ill the chosen sites

be preserved and sustained? Criteria m ust be

established regarding preservation decisions

and the designation of w ho w ill apply them .

O nce chosen for preservation, such sites

should serve the public interest, and offer

facilities for teaching and research, educa-

tional activity and program m es, scientific

w ork and experim ents. The visitor m ust be

provided w ith a portrait of the history of the

site, perm anent inform ative texts, and visitor

facilities. In the presentation and display of

archaeological sites it is necessary to m ar-shal a w ide variety of educational, eco-

nom ic, tourist and recreational resources.

Site exhibitions should include ex-

planations of the m otivation for the

building of the site, and describe the

history and life of the people w ho lived

there. The social, econom ic and politi-

cal aspects of the site should be illum i-

nated, and the cultural history and her-

itage recounted, including an explora-tion of its roots. The natural environ-

m ent of the site and how it changed is

also an essential issue. The display should

be concerned w ith public perception,

political attitudes, and national tradi-

tions. It should provide an integral pres-

entation w ith a vivid reconstruction of

life at the site, creating an environm ent

corresponding to the respective period.

Artefacts excavated at the site should be

displayed throughout.

Exhibitions are an effective m eans of in-

terpreting the past, and conveying infor-

m ation to be assim ilated by the visitors.

The m ore they engage the visitorsinter-

ests and em otions, and create an enjoy-

able experience, the m ore likely they are

to learn. Studies conducted recently found

that the m ost im portant factors at visitors

centres appear to be the interpretive them e,

the presentation m edia, and the overall

atm osphere of the displays. The m ost

effective exhibitions in term s of increasing

understanding, enjoym ent and m otivation

w ere those that had historical and hum an

interest them es w ith w hich visitors could

identify.

W hile in older displays the static exhibi-

tion of objects prevailed, and they w ere

expected to speak for them selves, recent

trends in site presentation show m ajor

changes. Today, the im portance of inter-

pretation and interaction is em phasized. A

tendency tow ards com m ercialization is

also observable. M any displays aim form ore objectivityand less ideological

influence.

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A question of interpretation

U N ESCO 1998

Several exam ples of recent trends in inter-

pretation used by m useum s built on ar-

chaeological excavation sites should be

m entioned. O ne of these, the Jorvik Vi-

king Centre in the U nited Kingdom ,

presents a full scale reconstruction. The

York Archaeological Trust designed the

site, the Anglo-Scandinavian Coppergate,based on all the archaeological data avail-

able from the excavations as w ell as the

addition of sights, sounds and sm ells.

Thus, a tenth-century neighbourhood w as

re-created. A special device of a ride in a

backw ards-m oving car is em ployed to trans-

port the view er. Visitors are further pro-

vided w ith descriptions of archaeological

w ork, archaeological rem ains, excavation

offices and laboratories, and a display of

artefacts.

Another exam ple is the Ancient Q azrin

Talm udic H ouse, in the G olan H eights.

The house is equipped w ith typical furni-

ture and displays actual household objects

and building m aterial recovered from the

original structure, and show s local and

period craft activities. M egiddo (Arm aged-

don), a site currently being prepared by an

international group consisting of the Israel

N ational Parks Authority, the D epartm ent

of Archaeology at Tel Aviv U niversity, and

the East Flanders G overnm ent, Belgium ,

w ill use an audiovisual program m e and

non-intrusive hi-tech equipm ent to en-

hance its presentation of local life.

These exhibitions succeed not only in

com m unicating inform ation, but attitudes,

values, and aesthetics as w ell. The activi-

ties of these site m useum s relate to real life.

As such, they reach out to the com m unity

and present hum an qualities w ith w hich

the visitors can personally identify.

Site m useum s are p roliferating in m any

countries around the globe. Their popular-

ity is grow ing and w ith it the need for a

clearer understanding of the specific prob-lem s related to them . It is hoped that the

articles in this special issue of Museum

International w ill prove a useful and w el-

com e addition to their study and develop-

m ent w orldw ide.

Select bibliography

A D D Y M A N , P. V. Reconstruction as

Interpretation: The Exam ple of the Jorvik

Viking C entre, York. In: P. G athercoleand Low enthal (eds.),The Poli ti cs of the

Past, pp. 257264. London, 1990.

G ATH ERCOLE , P.; LO W E N TH A L(eds.).The Poli ti cs

of the Past. London, 1990.

K APLAN , F. E. S. (ed.).Museums and the

Making of Ourselves, The Role of Objects

in National Identi ty. London/N ew York,

1994.

K ILLEB REW , A; FIN E, S. Q asrin Reconstructing

Village Life in Talm udic Tim es, Biblical

Archaeology Review, Vol. 17, N o. 3, 1991,

pp. 4457.

V ARIN E-B O H A N , H .D E. The M odern M useum :

Requirem ents and Problem s of a N ew

Approach. Museum, Vol. 28, No. 3, 1976,

pp. 13143.

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6

Chri stos Doumas

UN ESCO 1998

Excavation and rescue operations:

w hat to preserve and w hyChri stos Doumas

The major economic outlay tha t goes in to

the excavation , conservation and

presentati on of an ar chaeologica l site

ju sti fi es the questi on ,Why shou ld a

society underwr ite this expend itu re and

what shoul d i t expect in return ? In other

words, as Chri stos Doumas poin ts out,

the phil osophy of si te preserva ti on should

be clearly defin ed an d understood so that

public policy aims at both safegua rdi ng

of cultur al heritage an d protecting

society from poi n tless effort and expense.

The au thor i s a professor i n the

Department of Hi story an d Ar chaeology

at the Un iversity of Athens.

ISSN 1350-0775,Mu seum International (U N ESCO , Paris), N o. 198 (V ol. 50, No. 2,1998) UN ESCO 1998

Published b y B lackw ell Publishers, 108 C ow ley Ro ad, O xford, O X 4 1JF (UK ) and 350 M ain Street, M alden , M A 02148 (U SA)

M ans interest in his rem ote past is lost in

the depths of history and is echoed in the

creation m yths that exist in all cultures.

Architectural rem ains or graves of earlier

periods, attributed to heroes and m ythical

forebears, have alw ays held a special fas-

cination and have been treated w ith re-

spect. Indeed, for m any peoples these

ancestral m onum ents are, in a w ay, the title

deeds to a specific territory. M oreover,

instances abound of invaders and con-

querors vandalizing m onum ents and de-

stroying cem eteries in order to obliterate

the ethnic identity of those they subju-

gated. So the preservation of visible m onu-

m ents and the discovery of others is of

special significance for a people.

This significance w as dim inished if not

destroyed from the m om ent archaeologyw as established as a scientific discipline and

excavation becam e its basic m ethod of

research. In their endeavour to com e closer

to a distant past and indeed to eras for

w hich there are no w ritten texts archaeolo-

gists have used this m ethod to bring m any

m onum ents to light over the last 200 years.

H ow ever, excavation, as part of the investi-

gative process, is by definition a destructive

m ethod: it com pletely obliterates the envi-

ronm ent and the conditions in w hich the

archaeological evidence w as preserved forthousands of years. And this destruction in

order to reveal a m onum ent exposes it

suddenly to a new environm ent and new

conditions that m ay w ell be hostile for its

subsequent survival. In other w ords, exca-

vation can be com pared to a book, each

page of w hich is destroyed im m ediately

after it is read for the first tim e. That is,

inform ation recorded in the ground and

relating to the history of the m onum ent from

the tim e of its creation until the m om ent of

the archaeologists intervention is destroyed.

For this reason the onus of responsibility on

the excavator as an individual and on the

body that decides to conduct an excavation

is great. W hat criteria determ ine w hether to

excavate or not? Answ ers to the questions

W hy am I digging?, W hat am I digging?,

H ow am I digging?, can help in form ulating

the criteria on w hich the decision to carry

out an excavation is taken.

Why am I digging?

It is thus clear that the sole aim of an

archaeological excavation is, or should be,

to advance scholarly research in the study

of the past. Such an excavation is fre-

quently com bined w ith the educational

process: it serves as a laboratory in w hich

young scientifists are instructed in the

process of archaeological research. H ow -

ever, experience has show n that scientific

research is often invoked as a pretext forother, often spurious, am bitions. And by

this w e do not im ply grave robbing, that is

to say, clandestine excavation exlcusively

for recovering m ovable finds, ancient w orks

of art, for the purpose of selling them .

In G reece recently it has becom e the

fashion for just about every m ayor to lobby

for an excavation in his village, not be-

cause he w ants to learn or w ants his fellow

villagers to learn about the ancient history

of their area this m ay be a reason but asa rule village m ayors w ith such interests are

the exception but to attract tourism . The

association of tourism w ith archaeology

and m onum ents is regarded as a panacea,

and since it is a com m on conviction that

tourism brings w ealth, excavation to reveal

m onum ents is deem ed essential for a re-

gions prosperity. This capitalizing concept

of the usefulness of excavation differs little

from the m otives for excavations con-

ducted in the past to legitim ize the national

identity of the G reek people after their

liberation from the O ttom an yoke. In both

cases excavation as a scientific m ethod is

suspect. Since the preordained aim is not

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Excavation and rescue operations: w hat to preserve and w hy

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strictly scientific, the danger of m anipulat-

ing the data is great. Excavations w ith such

aim s should alw ays be avoided.

There is of course the case of the so-called

rescue excavations, that is, those carried

out in order to salvage m onum ents or

inform ation about them , w hich are other-

w ise in danger of destruction due to con-

struction w ork on a m ajor or m inor scale.

What am I digging?

Prior know ledge of the kind and character

of the m onum ent that the archaeologists

spade is called on to bring to light is

extrem ely useful and can solve m any of the

problem s likely to arise in the course of the

excavation process. Isolated architecturalm onum ents, com plexes of m onum ents or

settlem ents, cem eteries or solitary graves:

each poses its ow n class of problem s,

dem anding a specific approach, particular

equipm ent and techniques, and appropri-

ate specialist technicians. For exam ple, the

m ovable finds recovered from the excava-

tion of a settlem ent are different from those

found in graves. The latter, constituting a

peculiar context, m ay produce evidence of

m aterials that are not norm ally preserved

in the ground, such as organic m atter,bones, leather objects, papyrus, etc. As a

rule, this evidence is fragile and sensitive,

and at risk of perishing after sudden expo-

sure to another environm ent. W hen the

archaeologist know s that evidence of this

kind m ight w ell com e to light in the course

of the excavation, he w ill be better pre-

pared to save and conserve it.

How do I dig?

Starting from the prem iss that excavation is

by definition a destructive process, the

m anner of collecting the m axim um possi-

ble inform ation, keeping it safe and ensur-

ing future access to it m ust be the excava-

tors basic concerns. Since the excavation

is a book w hich is read only once, the

reader/excavator should understand it as

fully as possible. H e/she should also record

the inform ation from the ground in such a

w ay that it is possible, theoretically, to

reconstruct the environm ent (context) in

w hich it w as kept. So, albeit destructive,

excavation can be justified only to the

degree that the recording of the inform a-

tion perm its the potential reconstruction of

this environm ent. M odern technology al-

low s this detailed recording in the form of

Sin ce the di scovery of an cient obj ects

and their exposure to a new genera lly

hostile envi ronment takes place

suddenl y, their con servation essen ti ally

begin s in the trench, where fir st aid is

adm in istered. Here, the discovery i n

1995 of Hellen istic statues from between

the four th and thi rd centur ies B.C. at

Loukos in cen tra l Greece.

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Chri stos Doumas

UN ESCO 1998

w ritten description (daybooks), plans/draw -

ings, photographs, film s/videos, casts, etc.

The basic precondition for conducting an

excavation is the continuous presence of

specialist conservators, depending on the

kind of finds. Since the discovery of an-

cient objects and their exposure to a new

generally hostile environm ent takes

place suddenly, their conservation essen-

tially begins in the trench, w here first aid

is adm inistered. The belief that the conser-

vation of finds begins after their transfer to

the laboratory is erroneous. Very often it is

then too late.

O n account of the high cost of each excava-

tion, the num ber of system atic, i.e. pro-

gram m ed, excavations has been reduced

drastically in recent years. H ow ever, theexecution of m ajor technical projects, a

consequence of econom ic developm ent,

has led to an increase in both the num ber

and extent of so-called rescue excavations.

From the tim e hum an beings began living in

perm anent settlem ents they chose the m ost

suitable sites in term s of geom orphology,

natural resources and clim atic conditions. In

G reece, alm ost all the m odern tow ns and

cities have a history of several m illennia of

continuous habitation. Athens, Piraeus,

Thessaloniki, Patras, Larissa, Volos, Thebes,Argos, Aegion, to m ention just a few exam -

ples, are cities and tow ns w hich conceal

thousands of years of history, recorded in

stratified deposits several m etres deep un-

der the m odern houses. So any w orks

intended to m axim ize exploitation of urban

land, by erecting m ulti-storey buildings, or

to im prove the urban infrastructure w ater

supply, drainage, sew erage, electricity, com -

m unications netw orks, etc. have to con-

tend inevitably w ith the existence of im por-

tant antiquities. The construction of the

underground railw ay system in A thens, w hich

has transform ed the city into an enorm ous

w ork site, is a case in point.

Building and other activities in and outside

the cities and tow ns has m eant that D epart-

m ents of Antiquities throughout the coun-

try have been transform ed into huge exca-

vation team s w hich carriy out their w ork

under the constant pressure of econom ic

interests, large or sm all, and under the

threat of m echanical diggers. The disad-

vantages of these operations, know n as

rescue excavations, are m any. The first and

greatest problem em erges from the lack of

co-ordination betw een the different state

services. D ecisions to carry out projects are

not taken in collaboration w ith the A r-

chaeological Service, the only body re-

sponsible under the G reek C onstitution to

uncover and protect antiquities. So they

are begun and then interrupted in order to

conduct excavations. Apart from the enor-

m ous financial burden on the project inprogress, this course of action also has

adverse effects on the antiquities. First of

all, the responsible D epartm ent of Antiqui-

ties is under the constant threat of surprise

and m ust be ready to go ahead w ith

excavations w ithout foreknow ledge of the

specific site and the kind of m onum ents

concealed there. In such cases it is difficult

to plan the excavation, w hich is often

conducted w ithout the essential provisions

described above.

City centres: a special challenge

The proliferation of rescue excavations,

prim arily in urban centres, conceals other

serious dangers for the antiquities. The

continuous recovery of m ovable and im -

m ovable finds m akes it im possible to

conserve them im m ediately. So, on the one

hand, the im m ovable m onum ents are ex-

posed from the outset to deterioration,

even before their docum entation is com -

pleted, and, on the other, the m ovable

ones are cram m ed into inadequate store-

room s until no one know s w hen their

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turn com es to be w ashed, cleaned and

conserved. As for their study and the

draw ing of conclusions on the history of

the site w here they w ere preserved for

thousands of years, the least said the better.

It is true that over the last few decades a

policy of preserving notew orthy im m ovable

m onum ents in the basem ents of new urban

buildings has been im plem ented, w ith satis-

factory results. The problem is m ore com -

plex w hen an ancient m onum ent extends

below m ore than one m odern property, and

its investigation, docum entation and evalu-

ation are consequently incom plete.

A second m ethod of protection that has

been applied in G reece is to rebury the

m onum ents after excavation by filling in

the site w here they w ere found. Thisstrategy, applied in both the urban envi-

ronm ent and the countryside, perhaps

constitutes the safest one for preservation.

Another effective m ethod is the roofing of

both single m onum ents and groups of m onu-

m ents. This ensures that the m onum ents

thus preserved are visible and visitable, that

is, accessible to both specialist and layperson

alike. H ow ever, apart from the considerable

financial outlay involved, the erection of a

shelter presents the problem of spoiling thenatural landscape. In recent years attem pts

have been m ade to reduce the unfavourable

effects on the environm ent w ith solutions

attuned to local circum stances. For exam -

ple, the roofing of the entire funerary com -

plex beneath a subterranean vault at Vergina,

W estern M acedonia, perm itted the restora-

tion of the form of the ancient tum ulus that

originally covered the royal tom bs. The new

roofing of the prehistoric city at Akrotiri,

Thera, w hich w as com pletely buried under

thick layers of volcanic ash in the m id-

seventeenth century B.C., w ill also be under-

ground. Roofing also provides the possibil-

ity of creating m useum sites. By com bining

the enhancem ent of the m onum ents w ith

them atic on-site exhibitions, the educational

character of the site is m ore effectively

prom oted and the history of the society thatcreated the specific m onum ents is m ore

vividly experienced and understood.

O f the efforts m ade so far to protect and

preserve m onum ents it has becom e clear

that each case is a singular one and m ust be

confronted on its ow n m erits. In addition

to the factor of cost, that of purpose m ust

be taken into consideration w hen choos-

ing the m anner of preserving the testim o-

nies of the past. For if preservation is

ensured by filling in the site, for exam ple,

the m onum ent cannot be exploited for

tourism or education since it ceases to be

visible and visitable.

Any works in tended to maxi mi ze

exploitati on of ur ban land . . . have to

contend i nevitably with the di scovery of

important antiqu ities. Bui ldin gconstructi on i n the Rocks qua rter of

Sydney, Australi a, was in terru pted by the

discovery in 1995 of an i mportant

archaeologica l site.

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Bengt Edgren

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Eketorp Rediviva: an ongoing

scientific discussionBengt Edgren

The subj ect of archa eological

reconstru ction gi ves ri se to heated debate

between detractor s an d supporters. Bengt

Edgren of Swedens Centra l Board of

National An tiqui ties, National Hi storical

Museums, makes the case tha t by

brin ging the archaeological heritage to

li fe through careful reconstructi on, a site

can become both a source of con tin ui ng

scienti fi c di scovery as well as a tour ist,

educati onal and economi c resource. The

encoun ter between excavation and

reconstru ction , visitor an d archaeologist

at Eketorp has been, i n hi s view, a

resoun di ng success, an d the

experi menta l par t of the project has often

led archaeologi sts to re-exami ne an d

rein terpret the excavati on resul ts.

ISSN 1350-0775,Museum In terna tional (U N ESCO , Paris), N o. 198 (Vol. 50, N o. 2,1998) UN ESCO 1998

Published by B lackw ell Publishers, 108 C ow ley Road, O xford, O X 4 1JF (U K ) and 350 M ain Street, M alden, M A 02148 (U SA)

The first archaeological reconstruction in

Scandinavia w as a stone-age house built in

1879 in D enm ark. The house is still stand-

ing in the open-air m useum in O dense. In

Sw eden, a first attem pt appears in an

experim ent carried out in 1919 on the

initiative of the Sw edish ethnologist, Ernst

Klein. H elped by count Eric von Rosn, the

experim ent took place on his estate,

Rockelstad, south of Stockholm . Tw o stu-

dents w ith the right physical qualities w ere

em ployed to live Stone A ge life during the

sum m er of 1919. That m eant gathering

food for them selves and building their ow n

house w ith replica Stone A ge tools. The

experim ent is described by K lein in his

book Stone-Age Life.1K lein explains that he

w anted to get a clear view of som e of the

technical problem s people had to face at

that tim e and, if possible, find solutions. Tolive under the sam e conditions w ould

m ake it easier to com e to a probable

conclusion than through a theoretical analy-

sis of Stone A ge m aterial.

Kleins statem ent is very clear. Practical

experim ents can often be superior to theo-

retical hypotheses. I believe this opinion is

present in m ost projects dealing w ith ar-

chaeological reconstructions, although

m ore or less em phasized by the different

archaeologists involved.

In Sw eden, the next reconstruction cam e

in 1932 at Lojsta, on the island of G otland

in the B altic. After having excavated an

Iron-Age house from the M igration Period

(A.D . 400550), the excavators asked the

D irector General of the Central Board of

N ational Antiquities in Stockholm for per-

m ission to rebuild the house on the site.

Perm ission w as given under the con dition

that the rem ains of the excavated house be

protected w ith a layer of soil. The recon-

struction at Lojsta still stands and is today

a m onum ent in its ow n right.

After Lojsta H all no reconstructions w ere

m ade in Sw eden until the Central Board of

N ational Antiquities started rebuilding

Eketorp ring-fort. Eketorp is situated on

the island of land, east of the Sw edish

m ainland, w here there are m ore than 10,000registered prehistoric m onum ents. The

m ajority date from the Iron Age and m ost

of them are various kinds of graves.

The m ost im portant evidence of Iron Age

daily life is m ore than 1,300 preserved

houses w ith connected fencing system s.

There are at least fifteen ring-forts, all built

during the early Iron Age. The southernm ost

of them is Eketorp. The prehistoric m onu-

m ents are so conspicuous on land that no

visitor to the island can help adm iring them

and asking questions about w hat they

represent. To try to explain this by m eans

of reconstructions is therefore m ore natu-

ral and reasonable on land than in any

other province in Sw eden.

Eketorp w as described by the fam ous

Sw edish scientist Carl von Linn (Linnaeus),

w ho visited the site in 1741. H e w rote: W e

saw Eketorp ring-fort w ith its ruins and

collapsed w alls, w hich lay a quarter of a

m ile from the eastern shore and w hich w as

in tim es past one of the finest on this island:

for it w as one m usket shot in diam eter w ith

a w ell in the m iddle w hich alw ays yields

Lojsta Hall, an Iron

Age house

reconstru cted in

1932.

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w ater. W ithout any doubt these forts w ere

places of refuge for the islanders before

pow der and bullets w ere invented.2

Betw een the visit of Linnaeus and Eketorps

status today as one of the m ost visited

archaeological m useum s in Sw eden, the

excavation that took place from 1964 till

1973 confirm ed Linneaussupposition that

the fort had once been a refuge for the

islanders in ancient tim es.

The excavations

The excavations revealed three different

settlem ents, nam ed Eketorp-I, II and III.

These settlem ents all existed on the sam e

spot, on top of each other, Eketorp-I at the

bottom and Eketorp-III at the top.

Eketorp-I had a ring-w all w ith a diam eter

of 57 m etres. In the south w as a gatew ay

and w ithin the w all som e tw enty houses

w ith an open square in the m iddle. This

fort w as built in the fourth century A.D .

Eketorp-II follow ed im m ediately after

Eketorp-I and the new ring-w all that w as

built had a diam eter of 80 m etres. This

m eans that the enclosed area w as doubled.

In addition to a gatew ay to the south there

is another one to the north and a sm aller

one to the east, leading to a w ater-hole just

outside the w all. W ithin the w all are fifty-

three structures: tw enty-three dw elling

houses, tw elve stables, tw elve storehouses

and six houses w ith m ixed functions. M ost

of the houses w ere built along the ring-w all

and som e create an irregular block in the

m iddle of the fort. The Eketorp-II settle-

m ent w as abandoned in the seventh cen-

tury A.D .

Eketorp-III is a late V iking/early m edi-

eval settlem ent that reoccupied the

ringw all of Eketorp-II but had a totally

new typ e of house inside the w all. The

defence w as strengthened by keeping

only the south gatew ay; the north and

east gatew ays of Eketorp -II w ere

blocked. A low ou ter w all w as also

added som e 10 m etres outside the ring-

w all. Eketorp-III existed from the elev-

en th till the tw elfth cen tury, w hen

Eketorp w as finally abandoned.

W hen the excavation w as com pleted, the

D irector General of the C entral Board of

N ational Antiquities appointed a study

group to draw up a schem e for the future

of Eketorp, w hich group agreed that the

fort should be partially restored and the

follow ing principles for the project w ere

defined:

The reconstructions are to give the visitora vision of w hat the last tw o of the three

settlem ents on the site looked like.

The visitor m ust be able to obtain inform a-

tion on the results and artefacts of the

excavation in their natural and histori-

cal context as w ell as the archaeologi-

cal facts that are the basis for the

reconstructions.

W hen archaeological evidence and facts

are lacking, hypotheses m ust take over,

w ith reference m ade to reasonable

ethnological parallels, and the recon-

structions them selves are to be seen as

a contribution to scientific archaeologi-

cal discussion.

The reconstructed fort m ust be kept alive

by m eans of various scientifically based

experim ents and activities designed to

stim ulate com m unication betw een the

public and scientists.

W ork on the site m ust be carried out

w ith respect for natural and historical

values.

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Today, three quarters of the ring-w all have

been rebuilt, as has one of the gates into

the fort. W ithin the w all five m igration

period houses have been reconstructed as

w ell as four m edieval houses from the last

settlem ent phase.

The reason for the decision to start this

large-scale project is given by Roland

Plsson, D irector G eneral of the Central

Board of N ational A ntiquities at the

tim e:

The standing instructions laid dow n by

the G overnm ent and Riksdag attach

great im portance to bringing the cul-

tural heritage to life. There is a great

deal of interest in archaeological re-

m ains and cultural m onum ents, and

cultural tourism is an im portant but

often som ew hat neglected aspect of our

leisure outings, especially during the

sum m er season.

But in spite of their im m ediate im pact,

archaeological rem ains are often diffi-

cult to decipher, in w hich case they do

not convey the inform ation and living

experience that are w anted. U ntil very

recently, archaeologists in Sw eden w ere

very chary of historical reconstructions

m ore so than their colleagues in other

European countries. As scientists they

w ere inhibited by an aw areness of the

lim itations of their know ledge and of

the inevitable influence on a recon-

struction of contem porary ideas.

The reconstruction w ill not be 100%

historically truthful. It w ill, of course,

be based as far as possible on the

extensive m aterial resulting from the

scientific investigation, but it is also to

be regarded as an ongoing scientific

discussion. G aps in the docum entation

w ill have to be plugged hypothetically

in our efforts, by m eans of restoration,

The reconstru cted ri ng-wall of Eketorp.

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to create an effective illusion aim ed at

reproducing som ething of everyday life

in prehistory.3

These quotations dem onstrate that Eketorp

w as a deliberate break w ith a long anti-

quarian tradition in Sw eden not to w ork

w ith reconstructions in any form , espe-

cially not on the actual site of a m onum ent.

The know ledge of w eaknesses in the ar-

chaeological base is com pensated by the

possibility of bringing the cultural heritage

to life for a broad public.

It can be said today that Eketorp has

broken new ground in show ing the need

to explain com plicated archaeological re-

sults to the public in a w ay that it under-

stands and finds exciting. Reconstruction

as a pedagogical instrum ent is now w ellestablished. The fact that new know ledge

can be obtained from w orking w ith recon-

structions is also better recognized today.

The w ork in Eketorp has led to new

know ledge about m igration and early

m edieval house construction. It has also

deepened the understanding of the func-

tion of the houses of Eketorp and of the fort

itself.

The reconstruction

A lot of effort has been put into the

reconstruction of the w all of dry lim estone

m asonry from Eketorp-II. It is about 250

m etres long, 5 m etres thick at its base, and

the best preserved parts are over 2 m etres

high. The original w all has been retained

as m uch as possible, in som e parts up to

2 m etres, in other parts not at all w here the

stone is too eroded and the w all badly

dam aged. The reconstruction of the w all

w as based on a cross-section through it;

the volum e of the debris has been esti-

m ated and added to the preserved part of

the w all, giving a m inim um original height

of alm ost 5 m etres. A parapet on top of

the w all adds another 2 m etres H ow ever,

as there is no m aterial evidence of a

parapet rem aining in Eketorp, this is there-

fore a good exam ple of the dilem m a

archaeologists are faced w ith w hen recon-

struction is forced beyond the lim its of

their know ledge.

W hen dealing w ith the problem of how to

finish the top of the ring-w all, w e thought

the best contem porary breastw ork to im i-

tate w as the Rom an one, because of the

frequent contacts betw een land and the

Rom an Em pire show n in the im ported

goods found in landic graves and settle-

m ents. To say that the people w ho built

The Eketorp pi g, a back-breed w i th an

Iron Age look.

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Eketorp had directly or indirectly seen

Rom an fortifications is not a bold supposi-

tion. W e therefore built a crenellated para-

pet of Rom an proportions. Although the

sam e thing had been done in draw ings of

Eketorp before w ithout any critical com -

m ents, w e w ere now accused of having

gone too far. Could the parapet not have

been m ade of w ood and had it really been

crenellated on land as early as this?

The reconstruction of the houses in Eketorp-

II is based on the rem aining w alls, the

position of the post-holes and supports

found in the houses and other stone struc-

tures indicating the function of the houses,

such as fireplaces in the dw elling-houses,

byres in the stables and typical stone

pavings in the storehouses.

From the m edieval houses, the position of

the w alls w as found through the preserved

stone sills. The type of house that is indi-

cated, a w ooden construction w ith a fram e-

w ork w ith horizontal planking, is still ex-

tant on land in an archaic form . W e

therefore have good reason to believe that

this building tradition goes back to the

early m edieval period on the island.

The building m aterials used in Eketorp all

com e from the island: lim estone for the w alls,

oak for the roof-supporting construction,

reeds from the shores of land and turf from

the Alvar plain around the fort. If not contra-

dicted by the excavation results, all m aterials

that still exist or are docum ented as having

been used in older buildings from land can

be fairly tested in the reconstructions.

W e have used m achines w hen they do not

effect the quality of the reconstruction but

accelerate the w ork and low er the cost in

a decisive w ay. The stone w e buy is broken

w ith the help of explosives, delivered to

Eketorp on lorries and then lifted by a truck

to its position in the w all.

The larger trees used in the houses are cut

w ith pow er saw s but are then cut m anually

w ith an axe to the requisite shape and

dim ension. H oles for the w ooden nails are

m anually drilled and different joints are

m ade w ith axe, knife or chisel. W hen

building the m edieval houses, only replica

tools from the early m edieval period have

been used.

Meeting the public

The experim ental side of the w ork in

Eketorp is of course dom inated by the

building-process itself and the w ider know l-

edge about all the different building tech-

niques that w ere practised in Eketorp. The

big difference betw een reconstructing on

paper and in reality is not surprising, but isall the sam e w orth m entioning: w hat looks

difficult on paper is often easy in real life,

and vice versa. W e have learnt that build-

ing m odels that are not too sm all is a good

bridge betw een these tw o steps.

The w orks in Eketorp are am ong other

things m eant to stim ulate com m unication

betw een the general public and archaeol-

ogy. This is effectively achieved by doing

all reconstruction w ork during the sum m er

m onths w hen Eketorp is open to the pub-

lic. Visitors alw ays have an opportunity to

put direct questions to the archaeologists

and the craftsm en w orking in front of

them . W ork is slow ed dow n considerably

by this, but w e believe it is w orth w hile.

O ver 1.7 m illion people have visited

Eketorp since the reconstruction w ork

began in 1974. D uring a norm al sum m er,

100,000 visitors arrive over a four-m onth

period. In one season m ore than 1,000

guided tours are perform ed by academ i-

cally trained m useum -teachers. Special

tours for children show the anim als that

are m oving freely w ithin the m useum

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Eketorp Rediviva: an ongoing scientific discussion

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area. A favourite is the Eketorp pig. It is

the result of a back-breeding project that

has produced a new pig w ith the appear-

ance of the Iron Age pig of Eketorp. The

project is based on the osteological m ate-

rial from the excavation.

A special archaeological w orkshop has

been set up w here children together w ith

their parents can try to m ake their ow n

arrow -head in the sm ithy, create their ow n

Iron Age pot, cook a m edieval dinner and

afterw ards eat it and w eave on a vertical

loom or listen to Iron A ge instrum ents.

A m useum w as built inside the fort to

display som e of the archaeological finds

on the spot and to explain the know ledge

the excavations had yielded. It resem bles,

in shape and m aterials, the Eketorp IIhouses from the M igration period. Al-

though the w alls of the m useum are not

original, their position is, and doorw ays of

the Iron Age houses have been reproduced

in the front of the building facing the

w estern square, w ith the north and south

w alls built using stones from the old house

w alls in the central quarter.

The m any m odern details of the m useum

building the w ooden floor, glazed w in-

dow s and roof lights, a supporting struc-

ture of arches and a m odern exhibition

m ake it clear to visitors that the m useum

does not form part of the authentically

reconstructed fort. The exhibits are m erely

a selection of the 26,000 finds, w ith the rest

deposited in the M useum of N ational An-

tiquities in Stockholm .

M y experience from w orking close to the

public in Eketorp is that the m ain interest

of visitors is not in the m onum ents or

artefacts revealed by the excavation but in

the people w ho once lived there. Q ues-

tions are m ainly about their everyday life:

w here did they sleep, w here w ere the

toilets, did they sw im , w hat did the chil-

dren play w ith, w hat language did they

speak? At the sam e tim e there is a difficulty

in understanding that prehistoric people

are the sam e species as ourselves, that on

land they w ere w ell fed and alm ost as tall

as w e are today, that they had the sam e

intelligence. Eketorp Rediviva helps peo-

ple realize these things better, the recon-

structions m ake prehistory less dram aticand m ore hum an.

Notes

1. Ernst K lein,Stenldersli v[Stone Age Life],

pp. 48 et seq., Stockholm , 1920.

2. Carl von Linn, lndska r esa frr ttad,

1741 (edited w ith com m ents by Bertil M olde)

Stockholm 1962).

3. Roland Plsson, W hy W e B anked on

Eketorp, ICOMOS Bul letin(Uddevalla), N o. 6,

1981, p. 188.

In terior of the museum at Eketorp.

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The Luxor M useum of Ancient

Egyptian Art: the challenge of abundanceMadl in e Y. El Mallah

The ci ty of Luxor may tru ly be sai d to be

a cradle of all human itys cultural

heritage; however, i t al so remai ns an

urban environmen t which must cater to

the everyday needs of i ts in habi tan ts.

How to in volve the local commun ity i n

the programme of a site museum which is

one of the worlds foremost in terna tion altour ist desti nati ons was thus the

chall enge facin g the Luxor Museum of

Ancient Egyptian Art. The author is

general man ager of the museum.

ISSN 1350-0775,Museum In terna tional (U N ESCO , Paris), N o. 198 (Vol. 50, N o. 2,1998) U N ESCO 1998

Published by B lackw ell Publishers, 108 C ow ley Road, O xford, O X 4 1JF (U K ) and 350 M ain Street, M alden, M A 02148 (U SA)

The Luxor M useum of Ancient Egyptian A rt

is set in an exceptional location in the

ancient and w orld-fam ous tow n of Luxor,

w hich lies nearly 670 kilom etres south of

Cairo, the capital, and has a population of

approxim ately 70,000. The m useum is situ-

ated in a superlative position on the N ile

Corniche road w hich connects the Luxorand K arnak tem ples, parallel to the great

River N ile and facing the Ram esseum on

the w est bank. The river traverses the tow n

centre, thus dividing it into tw o sections.

The first section is on the east bank, w here

the larger and principal part of the tow n lies

and w here ancient Thebes w as a m etropolis

of Egypt for a period of over three centuries

during the 18th and 19th dynasties of the

N ew Kingdom (15501196 B.C.). The other

section of the tow n is on the w est bank of theN ile, w here the ancient Egyptians built their

m ortuary tem ples to the gods alongside the

dead pharoahs lying in their royal tom bs.

M agnificent tem ples w ere consecrated for

the w orship and hom age of Am on, his

consort the goddess M ut and their son

Khonsu, w ho together represented the

Theban triad. The Luxor tem ple is located in

the southern part of the tow n and the

Karnak tem ple in the northern part.

The tow n has had various nam es since the

beginning of history; it w as called W eset by

the ancient Egyptians and w as referred to as

N u A m on, or the tow n of Am on, during the

period of the O ld Kingdom . Its G reek nam e

w as Thebes. Follow ing their invasion of

Egypt, the Rom ans established a large m ili-

tary garrison around the Luxor tem ple. W hen

the Arab conquerors saw the rem nants of its

forts, they thought that they w ere palaces

and so gave them the nam e of al-uqsur,

w hich is the plural form of the w ord qasr(m eaning palaceor castle). The nam e w as

then distorted by European languages to

form the tow ns present nam e of Luxor.

General vi ew of

the cache roomopened on 21

December 1991.

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The w ealth of the Egyptian em pire, w hich

extended from the M editerranean Sea in

the north to the Third Cataract in the south

during the N ew Kingdom period, poured

into Thebes, m aking it the richest city in the

w orld. This w ealth w as reflected in the

different form s of art and architecture in

the tow n. As such, Luxor w as replete w ithpharaonic antiquities of an abundance and

splendour w ithout com pare elsew here in

the w orld, the effect of w hich w as to turn

Luxor into an open-air m useum of hum an

history and age-old civilizations.

G iven the copious w ealth of rare and

valuable antiquities discovered in Luxor,

the Egyptian M inistry of Culture conceived

a plan in 1962 to build a m useum there and

com m issioned a leading Egyptian archi-

tect, engineer M ahm ud Al-H akim , to pro-duce the necessary engineering and archi-

tectural designs. Construction w as finished

in 1969 and the m useum assum ed the

status of a regional m useum for the exhibi-

tion of antiquities discovered in the tow n

of Luxor. The exhibits w ere scrupulously

chosen from am ong the treasures in storage

in the region and, w ith the internal and

external displays com plete, the m useum

w as officially opened on 12 D ecem ber 1975.

O n leaving the m useum , visitors w itness a

unique panoram ic view of the w est bank.

The m useum galleries are on tw o levels,

w hich are connected by tw o ram ps. The

latest m useum display m ethods have been

used w ith a view to highlighting the artistic

beauty of the exhibits. These rely entirely

on artificial lighting, a background of dark

grey w alls and ceilings and sim ple stands

for the objects, the result being that the the

displays are not cram ped or crow ded,

leaving the eye free to focus on the exhib-

its. Visitors consequently have a relaxed

feeling w hich is conducive to becom ingfully absorbed in the contem plation of

each individual w ork.

The Luxor tem ple cache (see below ) w as

stum bled upon by sheer accident in 1989

w hile routine soil sam ples w ere being taken

from the courtyard of King A m enhotep III.

The cache consists of unique and unusual

statues of various gods, goddesses and kings

w hich are very w ell preserved and excep-

tional in their beauty and m agnificence.W hen the discovery w as m ade, it w as de-

cided that a special room be allocated for the

exhibition of this priceless treasure. Such a

room w as therefore added and an innova-

tive m ethod of exhibiting this unique collec-

tion w as also devised.

G enerally speaking, all the m useum exhib-

its w ere unearthed during excavations of

the area and w ere brought out of their

storage there. They also include various

pieces returned from the Egyptian M u-seum in Cairo to their original hom e of

Luxor, w here they w ere found am ong the

funereal trappings of King Tutankham en

w hen his tom b w as discovered in 1922.

Creating value for the community

The w ord m useum is no longer restricted

in m eaning to a place w here w orks of art

from bygone civilizations are preserved,

exhibited and presented to the public as

befits their artistic and historic value. O n

the contrary, the m eaning of the w ord has

now broadened to signify a cultural institu-

tion of considerable im portance, w hich

plays an influential role in the education of

society, the enlightenm ent of hum an

thought and the grow th in aw areness of

civilization, art and history.

Those w orking in the Luxor M useum w ere

faced w ith a m ajor problem once it had

opened. Being situated in the tow n of

Luxor, w hich has such a w ealth of antiqui-ties and is a focus of w orld interest visited

by tourists from all over the globe, the

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Madli ne Y. El Mallah

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m useum now represents a fresh tourist

attraction to w hich package and individual

tourists flock to be am azed and dazzled.

H ow ever, despite the status it has acquired,

the m useum constitutes nothing of value to

the tow nspeople, w ho are daily w itnesses to

the sites of antiquity surrounding them on all

sides in w hat resem bles an open-air m u-

seum w hose precincts they inhabit.

The m useum adm inistration w as therefore

com pelled to plan an educational project

w ith a view to creating a form of inter-

change betw een the inhabitants of Luxor

and the m useum , w hich houses w orks of

art bequeathed by their forefathers from

ancient civilizations. This educational

project w as based on a num ber of key

aspects.

First and forem ost, regular m onthly sem i-

nars and m eetings are held to w hich the

tow nspeople are invited, the aim being to

highlight the m ost significant of the ar-

chaeological discoveries w hich em erge

daily during the course of research and

excavation w ork carried out by Egyptian

and foreign archaeologists w orking on

archaeological digs. The result is to create

an aw areness of civilization am ong the

m em bers of the public and fam iliarize

them w ith the happenings in their m idst, as

w ell as to establish a link betw een them

and their history and civilization. Thesesem inars and m eetings are run by a group

of top Egyptian and foreign scholars.

The m useum also devotes attention to

issues involving antiquities and m atters of

heritage w hich exercise public opinion

and arouse controversy. This it does by

occasionally holding public sem inars to

shed light on the specific subject, to clarify

any controversy surrounding it and to

elim inate any confusion over it. An exam -ple of the issues tackled is the iniative to

dism antle, restore and reassem ble the col-

um ns in the hall of Am enhotep III in the

Luxor tem ple, w hich w as variously con-

doned and condem ned by the press, a

situation w hich divided the tow nspeople

into tw o groups, for and against the project.

In their com ings and goings, opponents of

the w ork saw these giant colum ns gradu-

ally dw indling in size during the dism an-

tling process and noted the resulting disfig-

urem ent of the tem ple courtyard. W henthe colum ns finally vanished altogether

before their very eyes, they w rongly be-

lieved that they had seen the last of them .

W ith a view to elim inating this m istaken

belief, the Luxor M useum seized the initia-

tive and organized a scientific sem inar

attended by the archaeologists, soil engin-

eers and restorers concerned. Invitations

w ere addressed to the people of Luxor in

general and to those w orking in the fields

of tourism , antiquities and the m edia in

particular. The sem inar covered the scien-

tific, archaeological and environm ental

aspects that had m ade it necessary to

im plem ent the project aim ed at saving this

great hall. It also covered the scientific

m ethod used to carry out the w ork w ith the

help of sophisticated technology. The in-

terchange betw een the audience and the

specialists w as extrem ely positive; the

m em bers of the audience learnt w hat w as

going on in their m idst and ultim ately

found them selves in favour of the project.

The m useum has assum ed an influentialteaching role in society by devising an

educational program m e entitled M useum

Faade of the Lux or Museum overl ooking

the Nile Corn i che.

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Education. The prim e focus is on aim ing

this activity at pupils in varying stages of

education. A num ber of m useum staff

received training in how to deal w ith

different age-groups and respond to their

queries. The staff w ere also supplied w ith

illustrative photographs, colour slides and

video film s relating the story of the m u-seum exhibits and the history of the tow n,

as w ell as w ith the equipm ent needed to

project the slides and film s. A tim etable

w as draw n up during the academ ic year for

the m useum staff to go into schools and

give talks, w hich they w ould follow up by

providing escorted visits to the m useum .

All such action w as taken in co-ordination

w ith the tow ns educational departm ent and

school head teachers. The broad aw areness

of the pupils w as in evidence from the

questions w hich they put to their guides. Atthe end of their tour, they com pleted a form

registering their im pressions of the visit and

their suggestions for im provem ents.

A m ajor accom plishm ent of the program m e

w as that it revealed the potential for lively

and positive interaction betw een the m u-

seum and its target public. The m useum

adm inistration used the suggestions to

develop and sim plify the form of labelling

so as to give sw ift yet com prehensive

inform ation on the displayed p ieces. The

success of this key aspect has encouraged

us to pursue this sam e activity and further

extend it to the social clubs that serve as

m eeting places for young people and adults.

A constantly expanding collection

The Luxor M useum is a place of m ajor

archaeological interest in Egypt, located in

an area containing tw o-thirds of the coun-

trys antiquities. It w as therefore essential

that its collection of exhibits should be richand varied enough to show all aspects of

the history and art of Luxor. The m useum

adm inistration therefore proposed expan-

sion of the exhibition room s and extension

of the m useum so that acquisitions stored

in the area and unearthed by excavation in

successive seasons could be added to it.

The H igher Council of Antiquities re-

sponded favourably to this proposal and

the process of expansion is now underw ay .

Cow head of the

goddess Hathor

made of wood

covered w ith gold

leaf. The horn s

are fashi oned

from copper andthe eyes are i n lai d

with lapis lazuli .

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The excavations in the region uncover,

som etim es by m ere chance, unique arte-

facts, w hich should be exhibited in the

m useum for the w orld to see. Such arte-

facts m ay be in urgent need of rapid

intervention in the interests of their restora-

tion and preservation so that they can be

suitably exhibited. In that connection, them useum faces a num ber of difficulties, as

there is no w orkshop w here restoration

and preservation w ork can be carried out

using the m odern tools and equipm ent

essential for treating the condition of such

artefacts. A request has been subm itted for

the establishm ent of an integral w orkshop

in the new w ing. D espite the lack of a

specialist w orkshop, how ever, there are a

num ber of expert restorers w ho are w ell

qualified to handle antiquities on the basis

of their raw m aterial or condition. If local

resources are incapable of caring for an

artefact, help is sought from specialists in

the central m useum adm inistration in Cairo.

For it to be successful, the activity of

conveying the m useum s educational and

cultural m essage concerning the surround-

ing site m ust be conducted inside the

m useum in a hall specially allocated for the

purpose, and not in schools and clubs, as

is the case at the m om ent. A request

therefore had to be m ade for tw o halls, one

in w hich lectures and sem inars can be held

and the other in w hich schoolchildren can

pursue m useum -related art activities. These

halls w ill form an integral part of the

m useum s new w ing.

The m ain antiquities on exhibition in the

m useum include the statue of K ing

Tuthm osis III of the 18th dynasty (149036

B.C.). M ade of green slate, this statue w as

discovered in 1904 in the K arnak tem ple

cache north of the seventh pylon in this

fam ous tem ple. As the tow n had no m u-

seum , the statue w as sent to Cairo for

exhibition at the Egyptian M useum w ith

other discoveries from the cache. It w as

then returned to its place of origin w hen

the Luxor M useum opened. This particu-

lar statue is regarded as one of the m use-

um s m ain acquisitions and is the one that

provokes m ost com m ent from visitors, as

the K ings noble facial features convey his

confidence in him self as a ruler and god,

the Egyptian sculptor having m asterfully

succeeded in bringing out that particu-

lar expression, thus m aking this statue

one of the m ost beautiful pieces of

ancient Egyptian art.

The statue of the god Sobek and K ingAm enhotep III of the 18th dynasty (1403

1265 B.C.) is a singular piece m ade of calcite

Di ori te statue of

Kin g Horemheb

and the god Atum.

The plinth of the

statu e was the fi rst

item di scovered i nthe Luxor temple

cache.

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The Luxor M useum of Ancient Egyptian A rt: the challenge of abundance

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and w as found inside a w ell m ade for it,

together w ith a num ber of paintings and

statues depicting the god as a crocodile,

during excavation w ork to clear a canal in

the area of Sum inu, now D aham sha, south-

w est of Luxor. A sm all tem ple w as un-

doubtedly consecrated to the god in this

spot, w hich w as show ered w ith votiveofferings by his slaves and believers in his

pow er.

This statue dem onstrates the Egyptian sculp-

tors success in creating a balance betw een

the physiques of the pharaoh and god,

despite their difference in size, by elim inat-

ing part of the rear panel above the phar-

aohs head and bringing his head level w ith

the gods head, crow n included. Ram ses II

claim ed this statue for him self, rem oving

the nam e of its original ow ner and replac-ing it w ith his ow n nam e. Fortunately,

how ever, he did not touch the kings

distinctive features, w hich rem ained intact,

thus affirm ing the origin of the statue of

King A m enhotep III.

The harpist and fem ale dancers is a build-

ing slab in quartzite from the tim e of the

18th dynasty of the N ew Kingdom (1475

68 B.C.). The slab w as part of the obelisk

built by Q ueen H atshepsut in the Karnak

tem ple w hich w as later nam ed the R ose

O belisk because of the colour of its stone.

It show s a group of dancers and singers

accom panied by a harpist in one of the

religious festivals that used to take place in

Thebes during its heyday. The depiction of

the graceful bodies illustrates features of

the art of the 18th dynasty.

The Luxor Temple cache:

a major discovery

The site of the Luxor M useum continues toreveal its secrets. The m ost recent discov-

ery, and also the m ost im portant of the

penultim ate decade of the tw entieth cen-

tury, w as m ade in the hypostyle hall of

Am enhotep III, the builder and founder of

the Luxor tem ple (14031365 B.C.), w here

a collection of rare statues know n as the

Luxor tem ple cache w as uncovered.

The initial cache discovery w as m ade on 22January 1989 and produced tw enty-four

statues of gods, goddesses and pharaohs,

m ost of them in an excellent state of

preservation. D iscoveries continued to be

m ade until 20 April of the sam e year, w hen

the last piece w as unearthed at a depth of

4.5 m etres below ground level. This piece

w as the sacred beard of Am on, w hose

statue had been discovered previously on

28 M arch. Sixteen of the statues w ere

selected for exhibition in the Luxor M u-

seum , w here a room w as set aside for themin the first basem ent, having been specially

designed to give visitors the freedom to

view the antiquities from all sides, using

focal lighting to draw the eye to the aes-

thetic elem ents of the exhibits. Care w as

taken to ensure that the chosen statues

w ere not placed on stands, but on a raised

platform reached by stairs, the effect of

w hich is to im bue the pieces w ith a divine

and aw e-inspiring quality befitting statues

of goddesses w ho w ere held sacred in

ancient tim es and of kings elevated to the

status of gods. The m ost fam ous and unu-

sual of the statues in this collection are as

follow s.

A composite statue of the god Atum and

Kin g Horemheb consistin g of two statu es

in diori te from the 18th dynasty

(133808 B.C.)

The statue is set in a hollow carved in a

separate base, w hich w as the first item

found in the cache. This unique assem blyof the three pieces (the tw o statues and the

base) is an incom parable find. It represents

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King H orem heb kneeling in w orship to the

god Atum and offering him tw o spherical-

shaped vessels. H e is w earing a head-

dress, the front of w hich is adorned w ith

the sacred cobra, and the short tunic know n

as a shandeth. The god before him is

seated on his throne, w hich is decorated

on both sides w ith tw o N ile gods, w ith thesym bol of the unity of the Tw o K ingdom s

entw ined by papyrus plants on the right

and lotus plants on the left, these being the

sym bols of north and south.

The statue in red quar tzi te of

Kin g Amenhotep III from the

18th dyn asty (1405-1365 B.C.)

This giant statue, w hich is 239 cm . in

height, is regarded as the m ost im pressiveof the discoveries m ade in the cache. It

show s King Am enhotep III in the prim e of

youth striding forw ard and tram pling on

Egypts traditional enem ies sym bolized by

the nine arches on w hich he treads w ithout

flinching. D espite the particularly solid

stone from w hich the statue is m ade, the

Egyptian artist has successfully em ployed

his skill to show the kings body in rem ark-

able sym m etry, as w ell as the details of the

short tunic w hich he is w earing and w hich

bears the nam e of King N b M aet Ra in the

bottom centre inside a cylinder called a

cartouche, encircled by four sacred cobras

w ith the sun above. W hen the statue w as

brought out of the ground, traces of gilding

w ere visible on the crow n, the w ide collar

and the bracelets adorning the king.

It is actually difficult to im agine the pains-

taking w ork involved in engraving the

m any fine and splendid details on the

kings tunic, particularly at the back. Visi-

tors have to see these details for them -

selves in order to appreciate the excep-tional skill of the Egyptian sculptor and his

m astery of his tools.

The statue in di ori te of the

goddess Hathor from the time of

Kin g Amenhotep III

The goddess H athor is regarded as one of

the m ost im portant Egyptian goddesses.

The sky goddess and protectress of life and

love, she w as w orshipped either as a cowor as a fem ale form w earing a crow n of

cow s horns w ith the sun lodged betw een

them . This statue depicts her as a w om an

seated on her throne, w hich is

unem bellished by engraving, w earing her

distinctive crow n over a w ig and holding

the staff of life in her left hand. Both sides

of the throne bear the nam e of King

Am enhotep, w ho is portrayed as H athors

lover.

The statu e of the goddess Ayunet in

grey grani te

Although this goddess had been w or-

shipped in the area of Thebes since the

11th dynasty of the M iddle K ingdom

(approxim ately 20611991 B.C.), only one

statue of this size and in such w ell-

preserved condition w as found. She w as

the consort of the god M ontu, w ho w as

a w arlord and m aster of Thebes at that

tim e. The statue portrays her as a grace-

ful w om an w ith an app ealing sm ile on

her beautiful face, m aking it one of

the m ost attractive statues in ancient

Egyptian art.

It is clear that the m useum is indebted to

the tow n, w ith its rich heritage, for the

acquisition of its collection. I am confi-

dent that the future w ill unveil m any

w orks w hich are no less splendid than

the pieces already discovered in the

area. The soil of Luxor still shelters m any

of these antiquities and takes greatercare of them than w ould m any hum an

beings.

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The M useum of Carthage: a living history lesson

UN ESCO 1998

The M useum of Carthage: a living

history lessonAbdelmaji d Enn abli

The fabled city of Carthage has fir ed the

imagina tion of arti sts and poets sin ce its

very beginn in gs more than 2,000 years

ago. A riva l of an cient Greece, then of

Rome, Carthage has been razed and

pilla ged by in vaders jealous of its

fortu nes, only to be reborn time after

time. In the twenti eth centur y, creeping

urban ization an d a tide of concrete

threatened to submerge it on ce and for

all un til the in tern ational communi ty

responded to the Save Carthage appeal

lau nched by UNESCO in 1972. Teams of

archaeologists from ten coun tri es more

than 600 in all worked to uncover

layer after layer of hi story and to study

and preserve thi s un iqu e site. Abdelma ji d

Enn abli played a key role in the

in tern ational campaign an d has been

cur ator of the Museum of Carthage sin ce1973. He is the au thor of severa l ar ticl es

and publications on Carthagin ian

history an d a rchaeology and i s dir ector

of research at Tun isia s National

Heritage In stitu te.

ISSN 1350-0775,Mu seum Intern ational (U N ESCO , Paris), N o. 198 (Vol. 50, N o. 2,1998) UN ESCO 1998Published b y B lackw ell Publishers, 108 C ow ley Ro ad, O xford, O X 4 1JF (UK ) and 350 M ain Street, M alden , M A 02148 (U SA)

The M useum of Carthage is first and fore-

m ost the m useum of a site, a great archaeo-

logical site w ith a prestigious history. It is

the site that nurtures the m useum and the

m useum that illustrates its history. Ever

since a princess from the East chose the

peninsula to build a N ew Cityover 2,800

years ago, people have alw ays lived, w orked

and concentrated their w ealth here, even

though the city that succeeded ancient

Carthage from the M iddle Ages onw ards

w as built a few kilom etres inland to w here

the peninsula joins the m ainland.

Today, w e have com e full circle. The site of

Carthage is now part of the D istrict of Tunis

and its future is linked to the developm ent

of the capital. But the site of the ancient city

has been spared the relentless building

activity that has taken hold of the present-day m etropolis, and has been dedicated to

m em ory and culture. Today, w ith urban

developm ent stretching as far as the eye

can see, it has been safeguarded as an

archaeological park for excavation and

research. In the heart of this area, on the

m ost fam ous hill, the m useum stands as the

custodian and living w itness of the civiliza-

tions that flourished here.

By clim bing the hill, the visitor begins by

gaining an overall view of the geographicalsetting and the physical vestiges of succes-

sive civilizations, and can also understand

the reasons for such continuity, for the city

w as built on a peninsula, looking out on to

a w ide bay, at the entrance to an accessible

hinterland an ideal location, as has been

proved over and over again. From the top

of this acropolis the topographical features

and historical significance of the site can be

fully appreciated.

The proposed itinerary for the tour can be

likened to a p lay in three acts: the first

covers the panoram ic view and discovery

of the site, the second takes the spectator

on a w alk am ong the rem ains of Byrsa, and

the third concludes w ith a visit to the

m useum .

Before setting out on this tour, a brief

outline or rem inder of the historical back-

ground m ay be useful. Carthage w as the

site of tw o cities belonging to tw o rival and

successive civilizations. The first w as the

Phoenician or Punic city founded by D ido

in 814 B.C . and destroyed by Scipio in 146

B.C. The N ew City, m odelled on Tyre,

established on the coast of Africa, the new

continent, w hich becam e the capital of a

new kind of em pire ow ing its prosperity to

m aritim e trade all over the M editerranean,

its position halfw ay betw een the civilized

East and the com m odity-rich W est w ith a

chain of ports and trading posts set up all

along the coast, ensuring constant defenceagainst both the G reeks to the W est and

indigenous peoples of the continent. The

city next fought a long and bitter duel w ith

Rom e lasting m ore than 100 years, ending

in a crushing defeat w hich razed it to the

ground. Then Rom e, w hich had destroyed

it, decided to rebuild it on the sam e site and

designed it to serve Rom e.

The city soon grew prosperous enough to

rank second in the Rom an Em pire in the

second century A .D . This w as hardly sur-prising. The site had already proved its

w orth under the Phoenicians and its strate-

gic position w as now com pounded by the

scale of the Rom an Em pire, m aster of the

constellation of provinces around the mare

nostrum, am ong w hich the province of

Africa w as one of the brightest stars.

W ith the pax r omanaon land and sea,

agriculture prospered and harvests w ere

exported. Carthage w as the gatew ay to the

fertile African hinterland and its port faced

O stia, the supply route to Rom e and its

sovereign people. As the capital of a w ealthy

and prosperous province, cherished and

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Abdelmajid Enn abli

UN ESCO 1998

controlled by all the em perors, it w as

endow ed w ith the largest and finest public

buildings and facilities and, in accordance

w ith a plan covering the w hole of its

territory, the hill w as surm ounted by a

grandiose forum . Apuleius called it the

M use of Africa.

From being pagan, the city becam e Chris-tian, albeit at the price of persecutions. It

w itnessed several schism s and underw ent

Vandal occup ation for a century before

being delivered on the orders of the B y-

zantine Em peror. This resurrection did not

last for long. W eakened, as w as the w hole

Em pire, it w as taken w ithout the least

resistance by the A rab conquerors. They

then deserted it for Tunis, w hich w as

farther from the coast and safer. From then

on, Carthage w ent into decline and its

population dw indled. For m any centuriesit w as used as a quarry for building m ate-

rials. Its m onum ents w ere torn dow n, the

blocks of stone rem oved and its colum ns

and m arble carted aw ay. The flattened

ground returned to agriculture w hich pros-

pered until the nineteenth century, w hen

the enthusiasm for archaeological artefacts

once again caused the earth to be turned.

W ith the establishm ent of the French Pro-

tectorate, the first Catholic buildings ap-

peared, including the form er cathedral and

the theological college of the French m o-

nastic order of the Pres Blancs in w hich

the m useum is now housed. In less than a

century the w hole of the peninsula w as

built up, except for Carthage, w here an

effective developm ent plan has enabled a

large part of the area to be preserved. This

w as the w ill of the sovereign state of

Tunisia, supported by the international

com m unity headed by UN ESCO , w hich

included the site on the W orld H eritage list.

An area of 500 hectares has thus been

saved from urbanization and preserved for

excavation, research and rehabilitation as

the Carthage N ational Archaeological Park,

set up by the D ecree of 7 O ctober 1985.

The heart of this great enterprise is Byrsa

H ill w hich w as the historical nucleus of

Punic and then Rom an Carthage, and w hich

providentially is now w here the m useum

stands as a tem ple to the m em ory of these

illustrious civilizations.

Let us begin at the beginning.

Act 1: discovering the site

N o one goes to C arthage unprepared. W e

arrive w ith preconceived ideas and ready-

m ade im ages. And the contrast betw een

w hat w e have im agined and w hat w e actu-

ally see, betw een w hat the history books tell

us, w hat our im aginations have conjured up

and w hat now rem ains m ay bring disap-pointm ent, for tim e and events have taken

their toll. And so the visitor m ust be jolted

out of any preconceived notions by a pow -

erful initial im pression. All flights of fancy

w ill be dispelled by the sheer beauty of the

sw eeping vista from the panoram ic terrace

at the top of the hill, taking in the bay and

the tw in-peaked m ountain rising above it, a

lake fringed w ith hills on the horizon and,

dow n below , the surrounding plain. These

are the salient features of the m ajestic setting

on w hich history has left its im print. For

Carthage ow ed its existence and prosperity

to its natural assets and to its skill in m aking

the m ost of them .

Aeri al vi ew of the site with Byrsa Hi ll i n

the cen tre.

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The M useum of Carthage: a living history lesson

UN ESCO 1998

Act 2: a tale of two cities

The heart of its history is the sum m it of

Byrsa H ill, dom inating the surrounding

landscape. This is the U pper City, w here

som e vestiges of its ancient splendour still

rem ain. For Byrsa w as a pinnacle not just

topographically but historically of both

Punic and Rom an civilization. Today, few

visible m onum ents testify to its form er

grandeur: no tem ples, palaces or citadels.

Just a few w alls and pavem ent floors. But

for the discerning observer, there are m any

undeniable traces of the great buildings of

the Rom an forum . The terrace from w hich

the visitor now view s the surroundings is

just one of the elem ents of the very exten-

sive architectural com plex covering the

w hole area around the sum m it, w ith baths,

a theatre, an am phitheatre, a circus-hippo-drom e, an odeum , villas, tem ples and basil-

icas spread over the w hole tow n, m any of

them still buried beneath the earth, covered

by land w hich is now either built up or

cultivated. And this is only Rom an Carthage,

w hereas the earlier Punic city is buried even

deeper. Thus, tw o great and pow erful cities

w ere built on the sam e site, on this hill and

around it, on this peninsula at the junction

of a bay and a plain.

The first grew up principally betw een theshore and the hill and served its function as

a com m ercial and trading centre, w ith a

port on the coast, a residential area on the

slopes of Byrsa H ill and burial grounds

stretching across the other hill-tops.

The second, planned from the outset, radi-

ated from a centre on the sum m it of Byrsa

H ill and w as designed according to a regular

orthogonal plan based on tw o m ain perpen-

dicular roads, D ecum anus M axim us and

Cardo M axim us, w ith the centre set aside for

religious, political and civic buildings, the

coast for com m erce, the hill-tops for tem -

ples, the hill-slopes for housing and the

surrounding area for the great entertainm ent

edifices. Beyond this area w ere situated

necropolises and later m onum ents.

W hat rem ains of all that today? Really very

little. For Punic Carthage w as destroyed by

Scipio at the end of the Third Punic W ar,

and Rom an C arthage w hich cam e after it

w as dem olished over the centuries, pil-laged for its building m aterials. The early

tw entieth century again saw the begin-

nings of urban developm ent, and there