Archaeologists in the frontline

[BAJR]

Professor Peter Stone, member of the UK National Commission for UNESCO (UKNC) Culture Committee and professor in Heritage Studies at Newcastle University, featured on BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, discussing the ethics of archaeology with Dr Yannis Hamilakis of Southampton University.


Listen to a replay of the programme on the BBC website here.


In the programme, Professor Stone emphasised the urgent need for embedding of cultural property protection and awareness training for military personnel at all levels to avoid a repeat of what happened in Iraq during the war and subsequent occupation in 2003.


Professor Stone has led the UK National Commission?s work to encourage the UK Government to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two Protocols of 1954 and 1999. The Hague Convention is the principal international instrument concerning the protection of cultural property during armed conflict and military occupation.


The UK is arguably the most significant military power (and the only one with extensive military involvements abroad) not to have ratified the 1954 Hague Convention.

[Sith]

The UK is arguably the most significant military power (and the only one with extensive military involvements abroad) not to have ratified the 1954 Hague Convention.

All British soldiers are regularly reminded of their duty to respect cultural property as part of training on Operational Law (what used to be known as the Law of Armed Conflict).

[kevin wooldridge]

We live in a crazy world!! If any effort is to be spent in this direction it should be aimed at campaigning for the avoidance of all forms of armed conflict (to the benefit of all humanity) and not wasted merely trying to preserve archaeological monuments.....this is a pointless distraction!

Stop wars and you stop the damage that is caused by war....

[tom wilson]

I hear what you're saying Kev, but "Don't Attack Iraq" had a much lower chance of success for far greater effort than "Best you don't drive tanks over Babylon, guys".

[kevin wooldridge]

On the same principle Tom would you suggest people in glass houses not to throw stones or just to be careful where they are aiming. I know which one actually avoids ANY possibility of damage to the greenhouse!!

[tom wilson]

can't we do both?

[Kel]

On the same principle Tom would you suggest people in glass houses not to throw stones or just to be careful where they are aiming. I know which one actually avoids ANY possibility of damage to the greenhouse!!

Depends on your audience and how receptive they are.

If you're faced with a bunch of people who've already decided to throw stones, then the best you can do is try and mitigate the effects of the throwing.

The only way you could avoid any damage at all, is to make a baying stone-armed mob in a greenhouse, calm down, listen to you and then agree with you.

The first option may have some effect. The second will probably just end up with stones being thrown at you as well as the greenhouse.

[kevin wooldridge]

Depends on your audience and how receptive they are.

If you're faced with a bunch of people who've already decided to throw stones, then the best you can do is try and mitigate the effects of the throwing.

The only way you could avoid any damage at all, is to make a baying stone-armed mob in a greenhouse, calm down, listen to you and then agree with you.

The first option may have some effect. The second will probably just end up with stones being thrown at you as well as the greenhouse.

I'm not arguing with your logic Kel. Just suggesting that if people are willing to make any effort to try and stop monuments being affected by war, they should make a big effort towards stopping the problem and not just ameliorating the damage. In reality I suspect that few people will bother at all.....which is perhaps a worse indictment of our modern age, than the situation where cultural heritage is victim to the efficiency of the war machine....

[Jack]

Hmmm. I feel that trying to stop humans waging war is like trying to stop a tide rising by shouting at it.

Without some all powerful overlord to enforce the peace, someone with some power will always start a war either for economic gain, to stay in power or to lash out at others.

We are all just chimps posturing and defending our territories/resources, its just our weapons do more damage than teeth, branches or the odd bone.

[Wax]

Hopefully we are more than chimps driven by our biology. Unlike other animals we have the ability to stand outside ourselves and understand what we are doing and why we are doing it. Whether we do anything about our dead end destructive behaviour is another matter.