ARCHAEOLOGY, CULTURAL LANDSCAPES AND INTERCULTURAL DYNAMICS AT A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 15/12/2020

Cultural heritage is fundamental to the identity and human dignity of communities and is an integral feature of every landscape that we as archaeologists explore, excavate study and redevelop. The way we engage with communities and stakeholders to protect and manage the heritage of archaeological sites and landscape greatly affects the quality of our relationships with those communities and other stakeholders. Considered one of the most important archaeological site in Turkey (according to Turkish Cultural Foundation), Ephesus attracts annually millions of visitors for its diverse values (be it a Greco-Roman, Christian or Ottoman monuments), but has also represented an important center of archaeological research. Included on the World Heritage List in 2015, has enjoyed the attention of tourists for more than half of a century and the attention of scholars for more than a century. Global, regional, national and local actors emerged and have actively interplayed and influenced over power politics between the state and the international community, between groups within the state, between regional parties, and increasingly between the state and local actors, In the process of the World Heritage making at Ephesus. Interactions between these actors have influenced not only the politics, but also the economic aspects, values and the cultural representation of the site. The study focuses on the role of the excavation and of the impact of a world heritage site in the daily life of the local community. It explores the effects of cultural heritage on processes of local identity formation and on the meanings attributed by local people to

the site’s cultural heritage.


Author(s): Ganciu, Iulian (Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut; University of Applied Arts Vienna)