USEUM International N°240

Underwater Cultural Heritage



Museum240-Large-eng.jpgTable of Contents

Editorial

Exploration and Preservation

* Submerged cultural sites: opening a time capsule David Nutley
* The impact of commercial exploitation on the preservation of underwater cultural heritage Tatiana Villegas Zamora
* Preservation in situ: “the preferred option” Martijn Manders
* Conservation of underwater cultural heritage: characteristics and new technologies Jean-Bernard Memet

Why Create an International Convention?

* Why and how will underwater cultural heritage benefit from the 2001 Convention? Thijs Maarleveld
* The 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage: advantages and challenges Ulrike Koschtial
* Safeguarding Brazil’s underwater cultural heritage: legal protection and public archaeology Gilson Rambelli

New Frontiers, New Concepts

* Underwater archaeological trails Francisco J. S. Alves
* A resource for sustainable development: the case of Croatia Jasen Mesić
* Underwater archaeological exploration of the Mayan cenotes Luis Alberto Martos López

UNESCO presents exhibition on reconstruction of Aksum obelisk

• © UNESCO/Michael Tsegaye

An exhibition – photographs and a video installation – at UNESCO will celebrate the reinstallation of the Aksum obelisk. The show will allow visitors to learn about the history of the Ethiopian site and to view the key stages of reinstalling the monument, 24 metres high and weighing 150 tons.

Open to the public from 4 to 15 May (9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.), the exhibition will be inaugurated on 23 April by Koïchiro Matsuura, the Director-General of UNESCO, in the presence of the Ethiopian and Italian ambassadors to UNESCO, Adelech Haile Mikael and Giuseppe Moscato.

The artists in the show, who are from Ethiopia, Belgium, France and Italy, were invited by UNESCO to visit Aksum and to express their vision of the restoration of the obelisk, a symbol of Ethiopian culture.

Their works highlight the uniqueness and magnitude of the project. The monument’s history has been eventful: erected in the 4th century then vandalized in the 7th, the obelisk was hauled off to Rome at Mussolini’s orders and set up near the Circus Maximus, finally returning to Aksum in 2005.

The artists - Tito Dupret, Theo Eshetu, Michel Ravassard, Hiwot Gebre Geziabeher, Michael Tsegaye and Paola Viesi – share their interpretation of these events. The gigantic, 15-screen video installation by Theo Eshetu, Ethiopian artist living in Rome, draws on his dual perspective. Hiwot Gebre Geziabeher, a schoolgirl from Aksum who learned photography with Michael Tsegaye, takes the local inhabitants’ point of view. Included in the show are films and photos depicting the extraordinary restoration work and Aksum’s lifestyle and culture. For an even better sense of the project’s scope, a 3D projection offers visitors a simulated tour of the Aksum archaeological site with the work in progress.

With this exhibition, UNESCO is celebrating the successful reinstallation and showing how a cultural project can help reconcile two countries with conflict in their past.

Education for All (EFA) International Coordination

The Big Read: Global Action Week 2009
Puts Spotlight on Literacy

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• © GCE

Global Action Week 2009 (April 20 to 26) focuses on youth and adult literacy and life-long learning to raise awareness about the global literacy challenge.

Worldwide, some 776 million adults lack literacy skills, 75 million children are out of school and millions more leave school early without acquiring basic literacy and numeracy skills. Literacy is a basic right. It is a fundamental condition for being part of today’s knowledge societies. Literacy is a key to reduce poverty, increase economic opportunities, improve child and maternal health, prevent HIV and AIDS and encourage political participation.

Global Action Week, led by the Global Campaign for Education, will send a strong signal to policy-makers and the international community on the importance of one of the most neglected Education for All goals. More political commitment, more effective literacy programs and more funding are required to make literacy a basic right for all.

The highlight of the campaign is the “Big Book”, a collection of short stories about how education changes lives. “Big Read” events will be organized, during which individuals will read from this book and sign a statement at the back of it calling for more commitment and investments to ensure that everyone is able to read and write.

The Global Action Week is an advocacy campaign organized each year by the Global Campaign for Education. UNESCO, as coordinator of the EFA movement and of the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012), supports this campaign and will be organizing activities around the world related to the “Big Read.”

Check this site regularly for stories, videos, presentations and studies about literacy and Global Action Week 2009.

UNESCO, Library of Congress and partners launch World Digital Library

• © UNESCO

UNESCO and 32 partner institutions will launch the World Digital Library, a Web site that features unique cultural materials from libraries and archives from around the world, at UNESCO Headquarters on 21 April. The site will include manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, and prints and photographs. It will provide unrestricted public access, free of charge, to this material.

The launch will take place at a reception co-hosted by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura and U.S. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. Directors of the partner institutions will also be on hand to present the project to ambassadors, ministers, delegates, and special guests attending the semi-annual meeting of UNESCO’s Executive Board.

Media are invited to attend a pre-launch press conference, which will take place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 21 April at 11 a.m.

Mr Billington first proposed the creation of a World Digital Library (WDL) to UNESCO in 2005, remarking that such a project could “have the salutary effect of bringing people together by celebrating the depth and uniqueness of different cultures in a single global undertaking.” In addition to promoting international understanding, the project aims to expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet, provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences, and narrow the digital divide within and between countries by building capacity in partner countries.

The WDL will function in seven languages – Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish – and include content in a great many other. Browse and search features will facilitate cross-cultural and cross-temporal exploration on the site. Descriptions of each item, and videos with expert curators speaking about selected items, will provide context for users, and are intended to spark curiosity and encourage both students and the general public to learn more about the cultural heritage of all countries.

The WDL was developed by a team at the Library of Congress. Technical assistance was provided by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina of Alexandria, Egypt. Institutions contributing content and expertise to the WDL include national libraries and cultural and educational institutions in Brazil, Egypt, China, France, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Examples of treasures that will be featured on the WDL include oracle bones and steles contributed by the National Library of China; Arabic scientific manuscripts from the National Library and Archives of Egypt; early photographs of Latin America from the National Library of Brazil; the Hyakumanto darani, a publication from the year 764 from the National Diet Library of Japan; the famous 13th century “Devil’s Bible” from the National Library of Sweden; and works of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish calligraphy from the collections of the Library of Congress.

One of UNESCO’s main mandates is to promote the free flow of all forms of knowledge in education, science, culture, and communication. The Organization therefore supports initiatives to improve and increase content on the Internet. To this end, it collaborates with a range of partners on the creation of digital and other repositories.

Troubled water

Increased demand, waste and insufficient investment: water shortage may come sooner than we think. Although water covers three-quarters of the world’s surface, only 0.0075% of this immense volume is available for humanity’s use. Some countries have already reached the limits of their resources.

We must act now, warns the just-launched United Nations World Water Development Report, “Water in a changing world”, which assesses the global water situation. The UNESCO Courier examines some strategies for better management.