Conservation of Cultural Property

Heritage and conservation have become important themes in current discussions on place. Cultural identity and the preservation of the past. Archaeological sites have long been a part of heritage and its display, certainly before the use of the term "heritage" and the formal study of tourism. India is a vast geographical expanse of sub-continental dimensions. Her culture can boast a hoary antiquity of continued historical past with living tradition of both literary and archaeological creative activity through the ages. Every state, province, regions and divisions, cities and smaller towns, villages and settlements, temple areas and sites have preserved rich remains of country's cultural heritage. This book is a very important contribution in the field of conservation and archaeology which makes the students and scholars understand so many new emerging aspect of conservation.

Heritage and conservation have become important themes in current discussions on place, cultural identity, and the preservation of the past. Archaeological sites have long been a part of heritage and its display, certainly before the use of the term "heritage" and the formal study of tourism. However, current concerns with their escalating destruction can be attributed to the perception among the public and professionals alike that archaeological sites, like the natural environment, represent finite nonrenewable resources deteriorating at an increasing rate. This deterioration is because of a wide array of causes, ranging from neglect and poor management to increased visitation and vandalism, from inappropriate past treatments to deferred maintenance. No doubt the recent pressures of economic benefits from tourist activities in conjunction with increasing communication and mobility have caused accelerated damage to many sites unprepared for development and visitation.

To add to these problems, few archaeological projects have incorporated site conservation as a viable strategy in addressing these issues either before or during excavation. This has been in part because of archaeology's neglect of the long history and tradition of conservation theory and practice and the general misperception of conservation as an exclusively off-site, post excavation activity associated with technical issues and remedial solutions. On the other hand, specialists in conservation and heritage management have been largely absent in the recent and rapidly expanding scussions on the meaning, use, and ownership of heritage for political and economic purposes. Both professions have avoided a critical examination of their own historical and cultural narratives pertaining to the construction of sites through excavation, analysis, conservation, and display.

**Contents and Sample Pages**