Sustaining Heritage: New Directions for Archaeology

Sustainability at its core depends on proactive engagement and a preemptive outlook that embraces durability, balance, and equity. As a concept and aspiration, and now a necessity, it entered development and conservation well before archaeology or heritage studies. So, what does sustainability mean for the preservation of the past? How can current global needs be met without compromising resources for future generations? In well-documented ways, heritage is particularly vulnerable to the pressures of our globalized society. Archaeological materials in context provide unique sources of information and experience. They are under increasing threat, whilst methods and definitions that we employ in heritage studies concurrently constantly expand and produce new material. The focus of this session is 'sustaining heritage.' The challenge is to move beyond established epistemological approaches to consider how the heritage of the past can, or should, embrace a sustainable future, while accurately formulating and communicating these issues with necessary impact. What does it mean when the future is privileged or at least accorded the same degree of importance as the present, or indeed the past? Session papers address these issues and examine how balance, continuity, and inter-generational equity – enfolded in sustainability – apply to archaeological heritage.