Hi,
(apologies for cross-postings)

I am an archaeologist, recently arrived back in Australia after working
nearly 9 years in Egypt, Jordan and the U.K.  I am now undertaking PhD
research that has resulted from collaboration between the Cultural Heritage
Centre for Asia and the Pacific at Deakin University in Melbourne, and
Heritage Victoria.  The project is called: “Making room for the past:
determining significance in archaeological collections from historic
sites”.  The project aims to produce a model for assessing the scientific
significance of historical artefacts, which will be applied to selected
case study collections in Victoria and around Australia to test its
effectiveness.

Similar to the situation in countries such as the U.S and U.K, federal and
state legislation in Australia since the 1970s has required that the impact
on archaeological resources be evaluated when new land development
proposals are made, and that excavation is conducted in cases where
heritage resources are at risk.  This has resulted in a huge increase in
the numbers of archaeological sites being excavated, and therefore also in
the numbers of collections of artefacts generated from such work, which
require storage in museum repositories. Caring adequately for these
collections is currently putting a serious strain on the resources of the
repositories that hold them.

A methodology is urgently needed for assessing the significance of
excavated material in order to select for preservation those with the most
long-term research potential.  As far as I know, to date there has been no
explicit treatment of the significance assessment of archaeological
artefacts, how to design criteria for their assessment, nor practical
examples of the application of such a methodology.

During the study I will be very keen to communicate with archaeologists,
historians, curators, conservators, and representatives of institutions, in
Australia and overseas, who have experience of the issues related to this
research, and who may be able to contribute to my understanding of them, in
an effort to develop a potential solution.

At this stage, I would just like to raise awareness about this research,
and am very much looking forward to discussing more specific aspects of it
with interested members of this list.  If you have any questions or
comments, I would love to hear from you.

Ilka Schacht
PhD Candidate
Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific
Deakin University
221 Burwood Highway
Burwood Vic 3125
Australia

Tel + 61 3 9251 7206
Fax + 61 3 9244 6755
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.deakin.edu.au/culturalheritage_centre

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