 Abstract | Reflecting current trends in practice and research toward a universally
recognised best practice for underwater cultural heritage (UCH) management,
international guidelines encourage the utilisation of in situ preservation as the
'first option' in securing these non-renewable resources. In situ UCH
management is identified as the prime standard by both the 2001 United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Convention on
the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and the 1996 International
Council on Monuments and Sites' (ICOMOS) Charter on the Protection and
Management of Underwater Cultural Heritage. At present, however, neither
UNESCO nor ICOMOS explicitly define the suggested 'first option'. As such, the
scope and context of in situ preservation is open to interpretation, and can be
construed to exclude a number of in situ management techniques currently
employed by heritage practitioners - including relocation and underwater
repositories. As many practitioners rely on the 2001 Convention and its Annex to
support domestic legislation, or as the stand-alone reference in lieu of domestic
law, it is imperative that the interpretation of the 'first option' is not at once
inclusive and unequivocally defined. This study therefore examines whether an
assessment of international conventions and guidelines, domestic laws inclusive
of heritage materials and practitioners' publications relating to UCH, with a
specific focus on in situ preservation, can identify discordance between
practitioners interpretation of the law and applied practice. The analysis occurs
with the examination of three genres of literature forming the basis of UCH
management (international and domestic laws enacted as of July 2012 and
practitioner publications) and an assessment of five case studies applying various
in situ preservation techniques within site management. The data and discussion
of results will demonstrate if and how managerial terminology requires
clarification within the assessed literature. More specifically, conclusions will aid
in the development of a more robust and well-supported definition of in situ
preservation, which can be applied as a global best practice for UCH
management. |
