Archeomedsites presentation for Ravello Lab

1. Present Situation and future
Prespective of Jordan’s Cultural
Heritage Sector
Prof. Ziad Al-Saad
Yarmouk University-Jordan

2. A Crossroads of Civilizations
• Jordan’s diverse legacy of
antiquities and
archeological sites attests
to its rich history as a
crossroads of civilizations,
which witnessed the
culture, art and genius of
numerous great peoples,
each leaving their own
special mark behind

3. Rich and Diverse legacy of Cultural Heritage
• This legacy represents the
origin and evolution of several
religions, cultures, economies
and societies.
• It is Jordan’s heritage, which
lends the country the unique
characteristic of an open air
museum, and offers the
potential for deeper
multicultural and religious
understanding through the
study of this heritage.

4. Oldest Plaster statues
around 10,000 years old

5. First Industrial Revaluation Happened In Jordan
Copper smelting (4400 BC)

6. The Unique Rock Cut City of Petra

7. Decapolis
• In northern Jordan, the Greek cities of Philadelphia
(Amman), Gerasa (Jerash), Gadara (Umm Qais), Pella and
Arbila (Irbid) joined with other cities in Palestine and
southern Syria to form the Decapolis League, a fabled
confederation linked by bonds of economic and cultural
interest.

8. Holly Land
• Baptism Site
• "It was in Jordan that Christianity was born,"
• Mount Nebo

9. Threat to Jordan’s cultural heritage
• A large number of Jordan’s moveable and
immoveable items of cultural remain threatened,
and their condition vulnerable to the vagaries of
nature and man.

10. Situation Analysis
• Weak awareness on the part of both the
government and general public of the economic
potential that Jordan’s archeological assets hold
has resulted in an inadequate heritage
management system that is severely affected by:
• lack of proper Strategies and policies
• Poor legislations
• Limited financial and human resources.

11. Three Major Impediments

12. Poor, Vague and Confusing Legislations
• Antiquities Law, Tourism Law, and law for the
Protection of Urban and Architectural Heritage
• Existing legislation is vague and confusing, and has
resulted in unclear divisions of roles between
heritage responsible authorities, mainly between
DoA , MoTA and PDTRA.
• Lack of clear standards and guidelines for the
conservation and management of cultural heritage
sites.
• Excessive Excavations of sites.

13. Inappropriate Institutional Setting
• While responsibility for the implementation of the
archeological component of heritage policy in Jordan
falls with the Department of Antiquities (DoA) from a
legal and institutional perspective, the current situation
in the heritage sector is characterized by lack of clarity
with regard to the responsibilities and authorities of the
various institutions involved.
• The roles of the key authorities responsible for cultural
heritage overlap, and sometimes cross, leading to
indecision, conflicting decisions, and loss of
opportunities.

14. Inefficient redundancies and conflict
• This split situation could lead to inefficient
redundancies and fragmented expertise,
competencies and heritage knowledge within
these organizations.
• There is a lack of defined modalities for
cooperation and interaction between these
organizations on issues of cultural heritage
management.

15. Lack of Human and Financial Resources
• The DoA is understaffed, under-funded, and in
need of more specialized and technologically
qualified human resources.
• The shortage of funding for heritage is largely
attributable to weak government recognition of
the economic opportunities that Jordan’s
heritage holds. As a result, this area has been
gravely overlooked as evident in the low
allocation of funds to the work of DoA.

16. Lack of Human and Financial Resources
• Conservation efforts are limited; presentation
and interpretation of heritage sites open for
tourists are non-existent or poor; and tourism
services are limited.
• As a result Jordan’s international and national tourism is
negatively affected, the large number of jobs that
tourism should generate is not being created, and
Jordan’s cultural identity has not received the
recognition it deserves in an increasingly globalized
world.

17. Way Forward
• The proper management of Jordan’s cultural
heritage is essential if we wish to derive the full
range of benefits while ensuring that our heritage
is well preserved.
• Proper management can only be achieved if the
tasks are clearly assigned to qualified specialists
in the management of cultural heritage.

18. Important Strategic Initiatives
• To overcome the systemic failures a number of
Important Strategic Initiatives need to be put in
place.
• legislation changes
• Institutional restructuring,
• Capacity building at DoA.

19. Legislation Changes
The key requirements of the legal revisions are as
follows:
• • Amend legislation to remove gaps, overlaps and
ambiguity. The laws that need careful revision and
amendment are: the Antiquity Law, the Tourism Law,
and the Law for the Protection of Urban and
Architectural Heritage.
• Tasking the DoA exclusively with the management
and safeguarding of Jordan’s cultural heritage.
• •

20. Institutional Restructuring
• DoA Activities Chain -SMU chain:
Survey
Recording n
Site
identification Excavation
Site
Interpretation
Documentation
Regulation
&
Management
Conservation
MoTA – SMU chain:
Site
presentation
Site
development
Marketing and
promoting
Tourism
Management

21. A National Governance Body
• In order to empower and enable the Department
of Antiquities to effectively fulfills its obligations,
a national body under a suitable name should be
established to effectively become the overseeing
governance entity
• It embraces representatives of different
ministries, NGO’s and private sector concerned
with the archaeology and heritage protection and
conservation.

22. A National Governance Body
• The purpose behind establishment of this organ is to
pool as much experience as possible into a unified
channel for ensuring realization of the targeted
objectives of the Department of Antiquities.
• Commissioners provide expert advice and guidance
on heritage matters and have corporate
responsibility for establishing the overall strategic
direction of the organization and for monitoring its
performance against strategic objectives and targets.

23. Capacity Building
• For DoA to carry out its mission, the human and
financial resources necessary for this must be in
place. The reformulation of roles within the
heritage sector will require that new skill sets are
built up within DoA, more staff are employed and
necessary instruments and equipment are
provided to meet the demands of the new
mandate, with the availability of more funding.

24. Intended Outcomes

25. Sustainability of Resources
• Utilization of and interaction with heritage Will
be done in a manner that does not threaten its
existence for future generations, nor detract from
its cultural and historic value, nor alter its
character and fabric.

26. International Competitiveness
• Providing the visitor with a world class
experience in order to enhance the
competitiveness of Jordan’s cultural heritage
product in the face of increasing regional
competition in heritage tourism.

27. Community Involvement
• Heritage provides valuable opportunities for local
communities to benefit through participation in
the appreciation of their historic and cultural
values, and of the increased employment that
this offers. It must therefore be ensured that all
of society benefits from Jordan’s heritage.

28. Partnerships
• Partnerships are a means of leveraging the
competencies and resources of different
stakeholders for the improvement of heritage
management, in particular partnerships with the
private sector, which have to date been almost
absent in the Jordanian context.