A perspective from the field: facing the dilemma in following the ICOMOS Charter for the Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites in the case of Tell Balata, Palestine

Abstract

Contemporary archaeologists and heritage managers are considered to have a responsibility towards their various publics and stakeholders. They are, more than ever, expected to strive for social inclusion, to take a variety of heritage values into account, to engage with the public, to consider heritage as a driver for development, to respect cultural human rights, etc. Various international conventions and charters, such as the ICOMOS 2008 Charter for the Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites, aim to stimulate and assist us in our efforts to achieve these objectives. Moreover, we have numerous handbooks, guidebooks and journals at our disposal that provide us with the latest experiences and the best of practices. But what if the local situation a heritage manager or archaeologist is working in makes it very hard or almost impossible to apply the cardinal principles of one or more of these charters, conventions, codes of conduct, standards etc.? Basically, these doctrines tend to be optimistic and positivist, in a sense that they emanate the engineering of the heritage domain through top-down instruction of archaeologists or heritage managers with (practical) recommendations, but often there is a large gap between theory and practice, between the generally accepted standards and norms we are expected to follow and the situation on the ground. This dilemma will be discussed in relation to the challenges of the Tell Balata Archaeological Park project in Palestine, where it is almost impossible to comply with such professional standards and to follow the 2008 ICOMOS Charter due to the political, social, and economic situation.