Challenges in Integrating Archaeology into Late-Period Preservation Projects: An Example from Menorca, Spain

Summary

The island of Menorca, Spain, belonged successively in the 18th century to Spain, England, France, again England, and finally Spain. During this period, the British constructed their first purpose-built naval hospital on Isla del Rey, a small island in Mahon Harbor. To date, heritage-related efforts on Isla del Rey have focused on the architectural restoration of the hospital buildings, as well as on the development of exhibit spaces. In 2013, Boston University started a collaboration with the Foundation "Amics de la Illa del Hospital," to develop an integrated program of archaeological research and heritage management for the Island.

However, archaeology is still not a priority for many restoration projects of post-medieval sites in Menorca, as in much of the Mediterranean area. Likely factors for this include the relatively late date of the historical remains compared to more ancient cultures, the availability of written records, and most of all, the presence of well-preserved architecture. In this paper, we present preliminary results of our work at the Naval Hospital and describe some of the challenges we experienced as we attempted to incorporate historical archaeology and archaeological herigage management into an architectural restoration project.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage