IHC Newsletter

Key Issues
DIGITIZATION MA IN HERITAGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 2011 CLIMATE CHANGE

AUGUST 2010 JANUARY 2011

Digitizations
Why Digitize Sites? This semester we made a big step forward in the first of the three areas in which we have decided to make a difference: Digitizations (the other two are: natural hazards and tourism). Having organised the Eleusis digitization project, which you will read about below, we are hoping to promote digitization as a basic, yet highly effective tool for managing sites. Benefits include: a) A complete 3-D testimony of the condition of the site at the time of the scanning which will be preserved and used in the years to come. b) Sites should ideally be conserved in perpetuity and the first step for this is the mapping of conservation needs. This is most effectively done on the 3D map. c) 3D images of the site can and will be available (password access) online for researchers to be able to make accurate measurements and take pictures and take notes for their research remotely , without burdening the staff members of the archaeological service or damaging the site. d) Any on site intervention (such as restoration, new buildings and pathways) can be planned exclusively with the 3D model, again with no visitation needed, but also can be recorded on the 3D model for future reference. e) Further mapping of the site can take place for the sake of conservation or research, i.e. erosion of the site, different rocks used, different inscriptions, or different dates of the various buildings. This is best done on the 3D model. f) Any visualization for the sake of research, education or tourism is best done with the help of the accurate 3D map of the site. The IHC-University of Arkansas project aims not only to complete the digitization of ancient Eleusis, but also to train students of any age in the skills of laser scanning, helping them and associated projects to fulfil their goals for more effective heritage management. But more on this below. New MA Launched ! A key element in our strategy and a major development in our activities, is our recently launched MA in heritage management, a collaborative MA between the University of Kent (UK's European University) and the Athens University of Economics and Business (the most innovative university in southern Europe for 2010, according to European CEO). This MA offers a unique combination of skills and knowledge for the professional development of heritage managers, present or future. Being taught on our premises in Eleusis, and 100m away from the leading archaeological site, the MA will cover a range of skills from Human Resource Management for Cultural Organisations, to Education and Archaeology, as well as Site Conservation. For more information on this programme please visit the website of the programme: www.heritage.aueb.gr

This Issue:
Eleusis Project

2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 6 6

The Educational Results Eleusis Conservation Mapping Karanis Project

Digitization Update

IHC Seminar and Lectures Fall 2010 Philioremos Ethnographic Project A Story From Gjirokastra 2010 Year of Biodiversity How can You Help?

Dr. Evangelos Kyriakidis, IHC Director

Eleusis 3D Archaeological Recording and Visualization Project

For five weeks in August and September 2010, the IHC, the Greek Ministry of Culture, and the City of Eleusina hosted a group of American and Greek students for a unique archaeological field project, where no dirt was moved and no artifacts were disturbed. Instead, the students learned how to use the latest technology in order to record and map the archaeological site of Eleusis in two and three dimensions. Offered by the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, in collaboration with the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST) and the IHC, the school was directed by Drs. Evangelos Kyriakidis (University of Kent), Jackson Cothren (University of Arkansas), and Fred Limp (University of Arkansas). Research instruments and computing resources were provided by CAST, along with a team of staff members to provide professional instruction and support. Over the duration of the field school, the students were introduced to a broad variety of methods and equipment for documenting and recording archaeological sites. Starting with more common technologies, students They first learned how to use survey-grade GPS instruments and geographic information systems to locations and attributes of features in the site. They then advanced to 3d recording techniques, using high-end digital cameras and terrestrial laser scanners, which record the landscape three-dimensionally by sweeping a rangefinding laser beam across it at high rates. Finally, during the last week of the field school, the students were free to choose individual projects that interested them, utilizing the technologies that best suited their chosen problem. With the assistance of two archaeology graduate students from UCLA, the field school students made a very good start at documenting Eleusis. They recorded over 100 individual scans, each consisting of anywhere from 30 million to over 100 million points, measuring the site to subcentimeter accuracy. After aligning and combining the individual scans, the resulting data set provides a good overview of the portions of Eleusis open to the public, with perhaps a quarter to a third of the area fully recorded at a point density of one centimeter or better. The data acquired during this field project marks the beginning of a collaborative effort to fully document Eleusis using these cuttingedge techniques. These data will serve to provide an indelible digital record of the archaeological site as it exists today, while providing valuable tools to archaeologists and conservators for analysis and site preservation. The IHC and CAST look forward to continuing this important work.

A small ambitious organization such as the IHC, that has been set up in such transparent terms, has shown so many and such focused activities that always follow a clear strategy and reasoning, can make the difference in participating in the preservation of cultural heritage of Greece and the east Mediterranean

By Malcolm Williamson (CAST)

Our Digitization Scholars

Funded generously by Mr. Papalexopoulos, and the Bodossaki Foundation, and all highly accomplished, our three Greek Scholars (Theodora Farthi, Lambrini Zambeli and Konstantina Nikolopoulou, were according to general consensus, amongst the best students in the 2010 digitization project. The funding covered the cost of the three scholars to attend the project, gaining valuable knowledge when they get in a position to help manage sites. One of the students, was actually invited by the university of Arkansas to do a subsidized PhD with them. Another is now following the two year MA on Architecture and Heritage offered by the university of Thessaloniki.

Bouchenaki (ICCROM)

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We also had two American PhD students from UCLA, subsidized by IHC, which went on to Fayum to help digitize that site.

Eleusis Conservation Mapping

In summer of 2010, we began an analysis of the deterioration factors affecting the monuments of the Eleusis archaeological site. That site is a historic place that was in use for more than two thousand years. During its use a number of monuments were built using different materials while repairs were carried out on earlier structures. To understand better how environmental conditions affect the site, one has to start with all the archaeological information and continue with mapping all the deterioration types found on the ancient buildings. The monuments were made of different types of stone such as marble (from Mounts Penteli and Hymettus), sandstone and limestone, mortars, ceramic plinths and in certain cases with wall paintings. Different materials are affected differently by environmental conditions, therefore, for each material one has to examine intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting deterioration. The documentation of the site with the help of the mapping which will start soon will allow us to better evaluate the way these factors influence the site and to set up conservation priorities. By Stavroula Golfomitsou

2011 Eleusis Digitisation Project 19 May-16 June For more info please contact:
pantzou@inherity.org

(IHC)

Karanis Project
In September of 2010, a joint team from UCLA and the University of Arkansas spent two weeks at Karanis, a Greco-Roman town in Egypt's Fayum region, conducting a survey of excavated parts of the site using a three-dimensional laser scanner. The team first met in Eleusina, Greece, as part of a field programme jointly organized and executed by IHC, the University of Arkansas, and UCLA. Team members Anne Austin and Bethany Simpson spent 5 weeks in Eleusina learning the ropes of threedimensional laser scanning on the site of Eleusis and the IHC premises. By the time they arrived in Egypt with their other team member Katie Simon, the three were able to plan an entire laser scanning project and create a three-dimensional model of Karanis in a matter of weeks. The final model contained over 2 billion individual laser points, representing the architectural remains of various neighborhoods around Karanis, and will be used for both archaeological investigations and conservation studies of this unique Greco-Roman town.

Digitization This Year

The digitization of Eleusis is a three-year project, running until the summer of 2012. It aims to complete the digital 3D map of the site, and, subject to funding, the Eleusis conservation map. The latter is the first step towards the continuous site conservation. The 2011 digitization programme will continue to train students and professionals . Following this summers successful partnership with the Fayum team which received training and proceeded to digitize the site, we would like to partner ourselves with more projects around the east mediterranean. We always take student feedback seriously and in response to their helpful remarks we will make two major changes to our educational part of our project, i.e. we will upgrade accommodation in collaboration with the municipality of Eleusis providing more space, sanitary facilities and cool areas for students and staff as well as focusing this time more on laser scanning and processing of the data. The unique experience of the Eleusis digitization project not only helps archaeological authorities manage their site more effectively, but also provides expertise to local and international professionals and students, contributing to the sus- Open Day of Eleusis Digitation tainability of knowledge in this Project field.

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IHC Seminar and Lectures Fall 2010

The Initiative for Heritage Conservancys Public Lecture Series for the 2010 fall opened with Giovanni Boccardi from the World Heritage Center (UNESCO) speaking on "Cultural Heritage and Sustainability: Implications for Conservators" at the Benaki Museum (Pireos 138), followed on 3 of December by Professor G. Hourmouziadis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) whose lecture Local Communities and Archaeology at the Benaki Museum was the last one for 2010. ties (11/05, Drakopoulos Amphitheatre). In the context of Transfer of Knowledge, New Research and Programmes in Heritage Management Series, Jack Cothren and Snow L. Winters (Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies, University of Arkansas) gave a three day seminar on Photogrammetry providing training to archaeologists and conservators on how to create a 3D model from single photographs, in order to record sites and create their models. On November 5th Prof. Haris Theocharis (Department of Informatics & Telecommunications/ University of Athens) presented his research on how visual computing tech-

Giovanni Boccardi at Benaki Museum

Interviewing locals

Institute at Athens, who spoke on December 10th in the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation on the various aspects of the ethno-archaeological investigation of modern cave use on mount Pelion For the first semester of 2011, we have already planned four seminars and three lectures by Prof. K. Zacharia, Dr. K. Fouseki, Dr. G. Alexopoulos and Elenita Roshi on a wide array of topics such as archaeology and cinema, management of archaeological sites, local communities and sustainable development, site conservation and visitor studies.

For the second semester of 2010-2011, the IHC in collaboration with the Kapodistrian University of Athens will host the lecture of Professor Colin Renfrew (Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn) (University of Cambridge) on Protecting Cultural Heritage: the challenge from the international market in illicit antiqui-

Harris Theocharis at PIOP

niques can help with archaeological reconstruction. The last lecture of the year was given by Niels Henrik Andreasen from Danish

The Philioremos Ethnographic Project

In June 2010, a preliminary ethnographic research was conducted in collaboration with IHC scholar Stelios Lekakis and IHC Education Programmes Manager Nota Pantzou in and around the Cretan village of Gonies, in an effort to record local knowledge and attitudes towards the Minoan peak sanctuary of Philioremos and collect valuable information with regard to the biography of the site. With an abundance of data to be processed, a two year ethnographic and outreach programme is set up in conjunction with the ongoing archaeological research on the site. Apart from gathering information and communicating the archaeological knowledge, this site specific research aims to enact a long-term dialogue and involve the surrounding local communities, authorities (Municipality of Gazi, Municipality of Mylopotamos, the villages of Gonies, Anogia, Tylissos, Astiraki, Kamaraki, Aidonochori and Kamariotis) and other stakeholders, such as the

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23rd ephorate of antiquities, local business, cultural organisations in order to help them protect and potentially contribute to the sustainable management of the archaeological resources. What is more, the collected data could be used in order to re-schedule the final parts of the archaeological project and mostly to set the framework for a viable management plan of the

site. We firmly believe at the IHC that for more effective management of the archaeological resources, the ethnographic study should go hand in hand with archaeological research and not come as an afterthought. After all, we learn in archaeology, that we should not dig unless we have specific questions to answer, and with the ethnoar-

Mr Panteris pointing at features of the landscape

chaeological compound the questions change or new issues arise.

A story from Gjirokastra: from rescue to revitalization of the Zekate House

Gjirokastra is a UNESCO World Heritage Town in the south of Albania. The town was designated a World Heritage site in 2005, 44 years after Gjirokastra was declared a Museum City by the communist government. From 1961 onward, the Institute of Monuments of Culture (IMC) under the special care of the Party of Labor of Albania dedicated considerable funding on restoring and conserving Gjirokastras built heritage and opening education attractions there. One of the 7 Museums was the Zekate House (a first category monument), built in 1811 by Beqir Zeko, a rich land owner and a follower of Ali Pasha of Ioannina (Tepelena). Its location was carefully selected: the house was a statement of family importance but also of its enemies, as it is one the most fortified houses in Gjirokastra! When confiscated by the communist government and initially used as a shelter for homeless people, the family moved out to a small adjacent house. The IMC restored the house and formed there the Archaeological Museum of Gjirokastras region in the early 80s. The museum/house was looted in 1991. Devoid of use and with no central or local authority to look over it, the house depreciated rapidly while risk of collapse increased as the roof leaked and the structure weakened. After the fall of communism, the house was returned to its, by then, more than 60 coowners. In 2004, and in seriously bad condition, the house was selected for emergency restoration by the Gjirokastra Conservation and Development Organization (GCDO) funded by the Packard Humanities Institute. Two years later, most of the emergency restoration works had been finished: Not only the house was saved but the great ceremony for the towns inscription as an UNESCO World Heritage Town was held at the house. Unfortunately, after the honored guests left, not many people would visit the House and again, it fell out of use. Following examples around the world of vernacular architecture, it was initially thought to transform the house into an elite Bed & Breakfast. Following evaluation however, this idea was abandoned as unfeasible. Occasionally, GCDO would organize small activities in the house; on the 18th of April 2007, the National Day of Monuments, a lot of visitors came to the house. This was because of the house appearing in the first page of a leaflet on Gjirokastra in English distributed by the Tourist Information Centre (TIC), that had just opened a month earlier. Suddenly we knew; the house would simply be an open Gjirokastra house for tourists. With a minimal budget left from the restoration project, GCDO was able to do some minor works.

So, ever since the Zekate House, the question To save or to revitalize has a clear answer; Revitilize!

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House, the question To save or to revitalize has a clear answer: Revitalize! Since, the GCDO has rooted the revitalization requirement in all its restoration projects. This facilitates the restoration process, the negotiations with the owner and creates a model for house owners which can perform restoration and revitalization themselves (always under the guidance of local and respective authorities). By Elenita Roshi (GCDO)

Initiative For Heritage Conservancy Kimonos and Pangalou 11, 19200, Eleusis Tel: 210 5565606 Fax: 210 5565606 Email: info@inherity.org

Despite the 2009 problems, the house was visited almost as much as the Ethnographical Museum of Gjirokastra. The house owners have never been happier: And they were so, not because of the costly invisible restoration but the low-cost

refurbishment of their property. All this experience helped us learn a lesson and gave us a model to follow for other restoration projects to Gjirokastra houses. So, ever since the Zekate

2010 Year of Biodiversity

2010 was a year of biodiversity, and IHC launched a three year project on the
VISIT OUR WEBSITE
WWW.INHERITY.ORG

effects of climate change on heritage. The first act has already been completed by the Kent-IHC fellowship on Climate Change and the Monuments awarded to Dr. Mary Thornbush (see her interview in the last issue of our newsletter). The next steps will include a round table and a transferable exhibition all culminating with a 3-4 week course on the natural causes of the deterioration of heritage all to take place in 2012. The roundtable is going to be organized together with international organisations. All three latest steps will be partly funded by a generous donation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

How Can You Help?

Following last year's generous grants for the digitization programme by the Bodossakis foundation, Mr. Papalexopoulos, the Fulbright Foundation and Educational Tours, we now want to broaden our base. This year we want to concentrate our fundraising on helping students from around the world to participate in our programmes, having already secured a McCauley family sponsorship for an American student. Here are some ideas on helping us fulfil our aims. 50 will help us buy a book for our unique heritage management library. 500 will help buy computer equipment used in the digitization project. 5000 will give a scholarship to enable a talented student gain skills in an area of heritage management. 50000 will cover the cost of the development of the entire Rapid Assessment Programme for the protection of archaeological sites. 125000 will endow a scholarship for 25 years, ensuring the sustainability of this important programme. For more information, please contact the director at e.kyriakidis@kent.ac.uk