Climate crisis threatens cultural heritage in Middle East — Scholars

AMMAN — The climate crisis directly impacts cultural heritage in the Middle East and it will continue to affect historical monuments and sites in the coming decades.

Two recent collections of studies authored by archaeologists demonstrate a growing awareness of the situation, especially as it pertains to coastal and inland river flooding’s impact on cultural heritage sites, noted Professor Benjamin Porter from Berkeley University.

The professor added that the authors stress the need to work with various publics, from government policymakers to community stewards and stakeholders, to mitigate the emerging crisis. 

"Nearly all of these studies are based in the so-called developed world—North America, Europe, Japan and Australia—and, notably, none are concerned with the Middle East,” he said.

“How then should one start to think about the practice of Middle Eastern archaeology within the context of the region’s climate crisis? Rather than begin with the discipline’s instinct to 'preserve' and 'protect' the archaeological record," asked Porter.

Middle Eastern archaeology in the 19th and early 20th century was directly influenced by European scholar and European imperialism and colonialism.

Since World War Two, archaeology has continuously benefitted from European, North American, and now East Asian interests in the Middle East’s carbon resources. Critics continue to describe Middle Eastern archaeology as a neo-colonialist enterprise that extracts evidence for Western research priorities under the guise of ethical “salvaging” of global cultural heritage, the professor explained.

Porter noted that this critique is not entirely fair, of course—some of archaeology’s most important contributions to the governments that host their research is the discovery and documentation of monuments on which national cultural heritage and tourism destinations are based. 

"However, even if these contributions are viewed positively, they also serve as reminders that Middle Eastern archaeology is not and has never been a neutral bystander in the region’s local and national politics.”

“Invoking archaeology’s historical legacy while reflecting on the climate crisis is important as it situates archaeological practice, regardless of the position of its practitioners, within a systemic regime that has already proved harmful to Middle Eastern societies. Setting aside the visible well-documented examples of archaeologists who contributed their research to the region’s ethno-national narratives," Porter elaborated.

Archaeological practice can create tacit inequities despite the well-intentioned motives of researchers. For instance, local communities that live adjacent to cultural heritage sites often receive very limited benefits beyond seasonal labour and small business patronage despite their participation in the research and site interpretation process, according to Allison Mickel. 

In some instances, in fact, archaeological research and site development projects have displaced entire communities in the name of preservation and security, such as the relocation of families living in or alongside the archaeological sites of Umm Qais and Petra in northern and southern Jordan, respectively.

"Growing awareness of the negative impacts that Middle Eastern communities can experience have led archaeologists to develop more ethically engaged sensibilities and practices in their research programmes," Porter said.

To do so, they have drawn on community archaeology models that consider local groups as stakeholders in the documentation and interpretation of cultural heritage. 

Indeed, these collaborative programmes have grown common in archaeological practice around the work, especially in North American and Australian projects that bring indigenous communities together with archaeologists to achieve shared goals.

"Over the past two decades in the Middle East, archaeologists have adopted community archaeology as a framework that can potentially reverse the discipline’s imperialist and colonialist legacy. Despite early enthusiasm for the approach, collaborative and community archaeology programs have not been widely adopted. Only a handful of projects have risen in visibility," Porter said.

The professor noted that this brief autopsy of community archaeology in the Middle East is key because it is likely the local rural and suburban communities that live alongside archaeological sites that stand to be the most affected by changing climate conditions.

"Rural communities who are responsible for supplying a significant portion of the region’s food supply will be stressed by warming conditions, erratic winter weather patterns, and increased erosion of valuable soils,” the professor said. 

“Archaeological projects, regardless of the extent to which they collaborate with host communities in their research, remain dependent on communities and their businesses for basic services," Porter underscored.