Dr Georgia Andreou

• Heritage Sustainability
• Landscape Archaeology
• Maritime Archaeology
• Eastern Mediterranean
• MENA, SWANA

Politics of Heritage Sustainability in the Middle East and North Africa

In recent years, the concept of "sustainability" has gained prominence in policy-making and higher education strategic plans. Within this broader discourse, the integration of archaeology and heritage has emerged in three main ways. First, palaeo-environmental analyses are used to provide historical depth to contemporary climate change projections. Second, efforts have focused on documenting indigenous environmental knowledge and its relevance to sustainability challenges. Third, research has investigated the impact of climate change on heritage sites.

The way sustainability is perceived in archaeological research has very clear implications for our understandings of past and present societies. It entails assumptions about human-environment relationships and economic motivations. These assumptions influence the way archaeological data is collected, interpreted, published and ultimately integrated in future natural and cultural heritage management policies.
Now more than ever, archaeology is recognised as crucial in defining and implementing sustainability. Nevertheless, the intellectual foundations of sustainability remain underexplored. Critical connections between sustainability, European colonialism, and eco-orientalism have been examined primarily in North Africa, but similar inquiries in the Middle East are still emerging. A wealth of historical sources and legacy archaeological reports offer a unique and substantial opportunity to examine historical perceptions of the ancient environment, and how these perceptions inform contemporary sustainability initiatives. Unravelling these relationships requires an interdisciplinary approach combining historical, archaeological and environmental data.

The objectives of the proposed project are:
•To apply an interdisciplinary methodology combining history, archaeology, and earth sciences to critically examine historical perceptions of the ancient environment.
•To critically assess the political dimensions of sustainability initiatives within the context of archaeological fieldwork and heritage management in the MENA region.
•To foster environmental diversity and inclusivity by focusing on regions traditionally perceived as environmentally marginal (arid, desert), such as the Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula.