Podcast interview with Patrick Hunt
Describing the Indescribable
“Ook Boerenbond ontevreden met onroerenderfgoedbeleid”
De Boerenbond wijst de kritiek van de archeologische sector af als zouden zij één van de belanghebbenden zijn van de aanpassingen van het Onroerenderfgoeddecreet. “Nochtans biedt geen van de bekritiseerde maatregelen een oplossing voor de knelpunten die Boerenbond al jarenlang aankaart bij het beleid”, bijt Boerenbond van zich af. Zo blijft de onderzoekslast, ondanks de aanpassingen, nog steeds voor rekening van de bouwheer. Boerenbond pleit dan ook voor “minder, maar meer betekenisvol archeologisch onderzoek”.
De Vlaamse archeologen zijn ongerust over de aanpassingen die de Vlaamse regering wil aanbrengen aan het Onroerenderfgoeddecreet en wijzen onder meer met een beschuldigende vinger naar Boerenbond. “Nochtans biedt geen van de bekritiseerde maatregelen een oplossing voor de knelpunten die Boerenbond al jarenlang aankaart bij het beleid”, repliceert Boerenbond. “Boerenbond pleit al jaren voor minder, maar meer betekenisvol archeologisch onderzoek”, aldus voorzitter Sonja De Becker.
Door het nieuwe Onroerenderfgoeddecreet dreigt veel waardevol ondergronds erfgoed verloren te gaan, aldus de Vlaamse archeologen. Ze verwijzen daarbij onder meer naar het feit dat archeologisch onderzoek voor vele bouwprojecten in de toekomst slechts verplicht zal worden vanaf 5000 vierkante meter, waar dat nu 3000 vierkante meter is. De archeologen hebben ook geen vertrouwen in het feit dat erkende erfgoedgemeenten in de toekomst de bevoegdheid zullen krijgen om in bepaalde gevallen zelf te beslissen of bij bouwprojecten al dan niet een archeologisch onderzoek moet gebeuren.
Er is daarnaast ook kritiek op de houding van Boerenbond. “Het is duidelijk dat de maatregelen die Vlaanderen wil doorvoeren, louter steunen op een kortetermijnvisie in een poging om te besparen in de marge en tegemoet te komen aan economische eisen van vastgoedgiganten, industriëlen en Boerenbond, waarbij de onschatbare waarde van archeologische kennis over Vlaanderen niet in rekening gebracht wordt”, zo klinkt het bij de Vlaamse Ondernemers in de Archeologie (VONA) en het Vlaams Archeologencollectief (VLAC).
“Nochtans biedt geen van de bekritiseerde maatregelen een oplossing voor de knelpunten die Boerenbond al jarenlang aankaart bij het beleid”, bijt Boerenbond van zich af. De oppervlaktenorm voor de landbouwprojecten in het buitengebied wordt door het ontwerp van wijzigingsdecreet niet aangepast, wat positief is voor Boerenbond. “Maar er komt geen oplossing voor de zware onderzoekslast die door het decreet is doorgeschoven van de overheid naar de bouwheer.”
“Als de bouwheer geconfronteerd wordt met een archeologietraject leidt dit vaak tot vertraging van het bouwproject en hoge bijkomende kosten”, aldus Boerenbond. “Alleen al voor een vooronderzoek, dat tot de conclusie komt dat er geen risico is op de verstoring van het archeologisch patrimonium, moeten vaak uitgebreide en dure rapporten opgemaakt worden. Bovendien wordt er met de kennis die in deze rapporten opgebouwd wordt niets gedaan. Dit maakt dat het maatschappelijk draagvlak voor archeologie de laatste jaren verschrompeld is.”
“Boerenbond pleit al jaren voor minder, maar meer betekenisvol archeologisch onderzoek”, voegt voorzitter Sonja De Becker daar aan toe. “Bouwheren worden geconfronteerd met vertraging van hun project en met bijkomende kosten voor de opmaak van archeologienota’s die nadien in de kast verdwijnen. Boerenbond wenst dat de verworven kennis veel sneller gesynthetiseerd en vertaald wordt naar archeologische kaarten zodat op termijn meer gericht archeologisch onderzoek doorgang kan vinden. Aan deze verzuchting komt het ontwerp van wijzigingsdecreet niet tegemoet.”
Bron: Vlaams infocentrum land- en tuinbouw / Belga
James Fielding shoots his mouth off
Cockroach |
In a comment on another blog you write: "I find it interesting how purveyors of BS always somehow shoot themselves in the foot at the onset" Your concern with "depth" however belies your own shallow approach - you failed to check what was the sentence following the fragment that in his blog piece your tekkie mate took OUT OF CONTEXT in the text to which you respond. I think it is rather you that shot yourself in the foot writing without actually checking what it is that is being discussed (and how).This is typical tekkkies seem to think that a belief repeated often enough becomes the truth. There are texts that raise uncomfortable questions about current policies on artefact hunting and collecting, so instead of examining the underlying premises of them (often set out in a form allowing that to be done), tekkies and collectors label them 'lies' and those raising the questions 'liars' and imagine the issue is resolved. I would say that such an approach in itself reveals that the criticism to which they have no substantive answers has merit.
I would contest your hasty assessment that Dr Samuel Hardy is merely a 'purveyor of BS', the paper referred to carefully sets out the methods used and references the sources utilised for critical review. All the tekkies can do is write with insulting 'Daily Mail adjectivisation' - but without citing a SHRED of evidence that Hardy is in error. I think that is rather telling, even if you do not.
UPDATE 18th Jan 2016
No substantive arguments, so ad hominems are used as a substitute - in further comments the metal detectorists compare Dr Sam Hardy to 'cockroaches that come out at night'. Yes, as the blog's title has it, metal detecting is based on several attitudes, and one of them is disrespect, disrespect for the remains of the past that are merely pocketed and disrespect for people like Sam Hardy, Nigel Swift, myself and others who question the effects of these practices. Metal detectorists are in general a disrespectful bunch of loud-mouthed, self-centred knowledge-thieves with a misplaced sense of entitlement.
Looking at the Moon: Archaeology & Children
My child is obsessed by the moon.
It wasn’t her first word, but it was early, and fervent.
MOON. Before “mama” even. MOON. She points at the sky, finger connecting to the bright crescent. It doesn’t seem to matter if it is full, or a thin sliver, or covered by clouds. MOON. She asks after it several times a day, like a friend or a sibling. Now I look out for it as well, check when it rises so we can go out and affirm, yes, MOON.
I’m not the first person to observe how having children changes the way you think about things. Recently Rumaan Alam noted how his children’s awe (or lack thereof) changed how he sees art, citing beloved John Berger’s Ways of Seeing. In On Looking, Alexandra Horowitz guides us to look through the eyes of “experts,” including a geologist, artist, physician, urban sociologist…and a dog and a child.
My Tamsin is a similar age to Horowitz’s 1.5 year old son—Tamsin is also “blessed with the ability to admire the unlovely.” Touching, tasting, being, tripping, laughing. Horowitz compares her son’s investigation of things found on their walk to a kind of archaeology, “exploring the bit of discarded candy wrapper; collecting a fistful of pebbles and a twig and a torn corner of a paperback; swishing dirt back and forth along the ground.” I instantly thought of Angela Piccini’s Guttersnipe, still my favorite archaeology movie, wherein Piccini deftly weaves a Bristol history around personal experience through the medium of curbstones. Really. Watch it.
Certainly having a child changes the way that you walk down the street, but it also changes the way I think about the past. Tamsin delighted in long afternoons at our allotment, picking and eating raspberries, blackberries, currants (tart!), then apples and a wonderful plum tree and grapes in the yard of the house in Greece we were at this summer. She became much better than her slightly near-sighted mother at spotting potential edibles, including birds. I’m not sure she’s better than other children at this sort of thing, and I rather suspect not, but I can’t help but think how it might have been incredibly helpful to have a food-spotter lashed to your back as you go along your way.
I realized that I had always thought of children as a burden in the past. The terror of trying to find a warm place for the night, of running out of food, of not being able to keep up with your group after a difficult childbirth…though obviously and sadly these nightmares persist for many people. I had never thought of a baby as a valued sidekick, as a contributing member of the household. The grave goods accompanying a child could celebrate their acumen, their contributions, something more than a parent’s loss.
After finding small caches of socks in books, bananas in couches (ew) and duplo legos in cooking pots, I also think of small finds and deposits I’ve found archaeologically. What an odd collection of small things, it must be a ritual offering….right? Or I wondered how on earth people could have misplaced that obviously valued object, that gold and pearl earring at the bottom of a cooking pit, etc. Now I think of grimy little magpie hands. Probably both are too reductive and mono-causal, but still.
Whether you attribute finds to children or to obscure rituals, these attributions show both our interpretive biases in approaching archaeological remains but also the potential of broadening and changing our archaeological imagination. I have very little in common with people in the past, as I type this blog out on a glowing screen in front of a fire, but small insights from a biological act that I am pretty sure happened in the past—childbearing—helps me think in different ways about their experiences. Yes, my sample is small…but she is growing all the time and she helps me to see things in new and delightful ways.
MOON.
(pssst, I’m quite amateur at thinking about children archaeologically, your first port of call for this expertise online is Sian Halcrow’s The Bioarchaeology of Children)
L’importanza di monitorare la qualità dell’aria negli ambienti conservativi
Lo studio della qualità dell’aria nel settore dei beni culturali: un’ampia selezione di accurati sistemi di acquisizione dati consentirà di sorvegliare gli spazi espositivi e conservativi in tutti i momenti della giornata, garantendo il controllo dei principali parametri ambientali coinvolti nei processi deteriorativi delle opere d’arte.
Faint Whispers from the Oracle - new book about Didyma
Faint Whispers from the Oracle. The archaeological environment surrounding the Temple of Apollo at Didyma offers a unique insight into the remarkable Greco-Roman archaeology which surrounds the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, the second most important oracular sanctuary in antiquity. The author has expunged the stuffy and meticulous language of the academicians to breathe vibrancy into the narrative which brings to light the complexities of both the ancient world and the ongoing conundrums afflicting the archaeological site today. This e-book has been designed to assist those venturing to Didyma to be able to follow the fascinating archaeology encircling the Temple upon their mobile devices.
This unique book contains 70 photographs and three detailed plans - of the archaeological site in Didyma, the Sacred Way, and the newly discovered ancient theatre of Didyma. There is also a bibliography for those of the readers who would like to deepen their knowledge about the archaeological and historical context of Didyma.
INSTA360 PRO: la camera sferica VR 360° 8K
The Acts of the Arval Brethren of 118 AD (#Hadrian1900)
New Open Access Journal: Akropolis: Journal of Hellenic Studies
ISSN: 2536-572X (print)
ISSN: 2536-5738 (online)
Akropolis: Journal of Hellenic Studies is an international peer-reviewed, open access scholarly journal, devoted to the study of Hellenic culture and civilization from antiquity to the present, featuring high-quality research articles and book reviews in all areas of Hellenic studies: philosophy, religion, archaeology, history, law, politics, literature, philology, art.
High quality contributions – regardless of tradition, school of thought or disciplinary background – are welcome. The editorial board equally values disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies. The highest editorial standard is ensured by the international character and disciplinary expertise of the editorial board.
Akropolis is published annually by the Center for Hellenic Studies, based in Podgorica, Montenegro.
Vol 1 (2017)
Articles
Korean NGO to restore UNESCO heritage site in Cambodia
NTU launches Singapore’s first master’s in museum studies and curatorial practices
Bago palace uses anti-Burmese symbol to attract Thai tourists
Bagan UNESCO bid to be submitted this month
Nearly a century after the bloody murder of a French colonial official, a village still bears the mark of the ‘beast’
UI archaeology professor weighs in on Borobudur’s ‘chattra’ restoration
Τα πρόσωπα των λίθων – Νεώτερη έρευνα για τους αποτετμημένους λίθους της Παρθενώνειας ζωφόρου
Urban Planning and Architectural Design for Sustainable Development (UPADSD) – 3rd Edition
The 3rd Conference on “Urban Planning and Architectural Design for Sustainable Development” (UPADSD), to be held in Italy, follows the success of previous meetings 2015, 2017. It has become apparent that contrivers, environmentalists, architects, technologist, policy Creator and economist have to work together in parliamentary law to ensure that planning and evolution can meet our nowadays needs without comprising the ability of future generations.
Location
Urban Regenration and Sustainability
Urban Regeneration is the Rehabilitation of land areas that are subject to high-density Urban Land use. It is a strategy that aims to transform and renovate areas to be upgraded in Housing, Public and Private Buildings, Infrastructure, and Services. This entire process is an effective way to improve urban performance by targeting areas with a high incidence of poverty, pollution, and congestion, leading to a complete Economic and Regional Development of the area.