WAR, the pressures of tourism and Russian corruption are the most serious problems facing the world's greatest buildings and historic sites, according to a report published today.

The World Monuments Fund's list of the 100 most endangered sites ranges from prehistoric rock carvings in Niger to a visionary arts school in Cuba built in the Sixties. Although the report was completed too early to include buildings damaged in the latest conflict in Kosovo and Serbia, the scale of devastation caused by earlier wars in Croatia, Bosnia and elsewhere in the world is clear.

UK Daily Telegraph, Electronic Telegraph, 28 Sep 1999:

WAR, the pressures of tourism and Russian corruption are the most serious problems facing the world's greatest buildings and historic sites, according to a report published today.

The World Monuments Fund's list of the 100 most endangered sites ranges from prehistoric rock carvings in Niger to a visionary arts school in Cuba built in the Sixties. Although the report was completed too early to include buildings damaged in the latest conflict in Kosovo and Serbia, the scale of devastation caused by earlier wars in Croatia, Bosnia and elsewhere in the world is clear.

UK Daily Telegraph, Electronic Telegraph, 28 Sep 1999:

A Finite Iroquoian Legacy: A number of fragile Iroquoian sites near Toronto, the fastest growing city in Canada, are threatened by developers' bulldozers.

Over half the world's temperate rainforest has been destroyed; a quarter of what is left is here in British Columbia. BC now has the largest remaining expanse of coastal temperate rainforest left in the world, but clearcutting continues in the spectacular Great Bear Rainforest to make earth-shatteringly vital items, such as newspapers, toilet paper, and diapers (which cannot, of course, be made from recycled materials). Fortunately, the Forest Action Network continues its spectacular fight.

The impacts of clearcutting are not just ecological and economic. According to Greenpeace: "Archaeological studies and oral traditions show that coastal First Nations have lived in the Pacific rainforest region for at least 9,000 years, creating rich and diverse societies and using the bounty of both the rainforest and the connecting waters for sustenance. European contact, however, has resulted in the erosion of both First Nations' culture and land.

According to Ecotrust International, 44 of 68 language groups believed to have been spoken on North America's west coast at the time of contact are today extinct or spoken by fewer than ten individuals. The pattern of this cultural erosion mirrors the south to north pattern of the Europeans' movements, and reflects where old-growth rainforests have been cleared all along the Pacific coast.

Today, clearcutting continues on First Nations lands often without the consent of the First Nations who have resided in these forests for millennia and on land which has never been ceded or signed away in treaty. On the central coast in the Great Bear Rainforest, few First Nations communities receive direct economic benefit from the logging. At times, as much as 90 % of the logging "benefits" have completely bypassed the region. "

There's still hope of saving the forests. We can all make a difference by refusing to buy wood that comes from ancient forests in BC. How do you know where wood comes from? Look for the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) label/logo as a mark of forestry from secondary, managed plantations of known origin. Going for recycled paper products makes a difference; so too does writing to newspapers and magazines asking them not to get their pulp from the companies Interfor, Macmillan Bloedel, and WFP who have been clearcutting the old forests of British Columbia.

Caves in southwestern mainland British Columbia are rare, and examples with speleothems of the quality of those found in Iron Curtain Cave are exceptional in Canada. They are now threatened by quarrying.

The notorious Yangtze (Three Gorges) dam in China threatens archaeology and ecology. More than 1.3 million people will be forced from their homes by the 410 mile long, £17 billion hydroelectric reservoir/dam project, and driven into arid desert in Xinjiang province or the equally arid steppes of Inner Mongolia. More than 10,000 people in Yuyang county have signed a petition, and organized protests are expected to follow as construction work proceeds. One petition reads: "Once conflict breaks out it will be too late for the central government to send down officials to handle the matter."

"For years our scholars have informed us that the world has long sought to suppress, distort or ignore Black history. In antiquity, foreign invaders destroyed African monuments, defaced them or adopted them as their own. Centuries later, after Europe conquered and colonized Africa, Western historians erased the record of African greatness. They removed Black people from Egypt, Egypt from Africa and Africa from world history. According to Professor Manu Ampim, the desecration of Africa, her people, her monuments and her culture persists even today. European and Arab 'conservation' teams arecurrently defacing and destroying Egyptian temple and tomb images and inscriptions."

Tourism has become one of the most dynamic sectors of the Egyptian economy. As a consequence, the decay of some of the world's most fabulous ancient relics has been proceeding at an alarming rate. Some say that if current rates continue unabated, within another one to two centuries the paintings and architecture of many of these monuments will be completely destroyed. Although there are no legal proceedings currently taking place, the potential exists mainly in international organizations that could exert pressure on Egypt to preserve its ancient treasures.

A member of the British parliament is calling for the return to Wales of artefacts belonging to Welsh hero Owain Glyndwr from the French National Library in Paris.

BBC News Online (UK):

French archaeologists strike over controversial Rodez scheme. Yes, archaeologists have been known to protest too.

Builders working on a new street in Berlin have uncovered what may be the remains of the bunker where Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945. Opinions are divided over whether to preserve the site. Former city archaeologist Alfred Kernd'l favours preservation, but Andreas Nachama, head of Berlin's Jewish Community, said he doesn't believe preserving every remnant from the Nazi era would serve any purpose.

The Guardian (UK): 16^th October 1999.

The British Museum has admitted that the controversial Elgin Marbles were damaged by "heavy handed" cleaning 60 years ago. And it has said an attempt to cover up the damage to the marbles in the 1930s was "a scandal".

BBC News Online (UK): (follow this link for numerous related stories)

Campaign for return of Parthenon marbles:

"The Greek cultural attaché to Britain has accused a British art expert of arrogance and "spouting pseudo-scientific froth" for claiming that the Elgin marbles in the British Museum are in a better condition than the remaining marbles in Athens."

The Independent (UK), 6 November 1999:

Archaeologists fear that construction of a subway tunnel under the Kerameikos cemetery (center) will destabilize marble funerary

CRETE'S most important ancient site, the Minoan palace of Knossos, is suffering from severe neglect and mismanagement, officials have admitted.

Graffiti, queues, confusing signposts and bands of unlicensed guides who describe themselves as "curators", are just some of the problems affecting the monument, which was built in 1400 BC and is renowned for its frescoes.

Daily Telegraph/Electronic Telegraph, 13 Sep 1997:

"THE Indian government has been forced to take emergency measures to save the Taj Mahal, the world's most famous and enduring monument to love, which is in danger of collapse from pollution."

Sunday Telegraph, 3 Oct 1999:

This is an ethnographic and archeological museum.The archaeological section, dedicated to the Logudoro and Meilogu regions(Sardinia),focuses mostly on the prestigious nuragic complex of Santu Antine in Torralba.

The government palace from the ancient Japanese city of Nara stands as an example of how a national treasure has been preserved despite intense pressure for development (a bypass project).

Sheltered fortified forests on the South coast of Mombasa are used as spiritual enclaves, burial grounds, and a source for medicinal herbs. But they are coming under increasing threat from developers motivated by tourist profits.

UK Telegraph/Electronic Telegraph, Friday 26 Jan 1996:

"After 15 years of war, Lebanon has fallen victim to the greatest pillage of Graeco-Roman, Iron and Bronze Age treasures in the Middle East since European explorers sacked the area more than a century ago. Priceless statues, Byzantine mosaics, Roman glass and Phoenician gold are being illegally exported to London, Paris, New York and Bonn by Lebanese dealers and international middlemen while some of the most important archaeological sites in what was ancient Phoenicia have been destroyed by treasure-hunters."

Robert Fisk, BERITUS Vol XXXIX, 1991:

Did you know that Moctezuma's quetzal feather crown is being held at the Volkskendemuseum in Vienna, Austria? This incredible work of sacred art, known to the Aztecs as the Kopilliketzalli, or "The Precious Crown," has

been in Austria since 1524, when it was given to them by the government of Spain after being plundered in the conquest and holocaust of Mexico. The Austrians have been asked to return the crown many times. They claim that it is not Moctezuma's, but that of an important chief other than Moctezuma. They also say that since it was a gift, it needn't be returned.

An old story about an inspiring bit of direct action against the 'dozers at mount Abu Ghniem.

The remarkable Peruvian site of Machu Picchu (a World Heritage Site) is threatened by cable cars and a massive hotel complex. But tourist dollars are needed to relieve grinding poverty and foreign debts.

About.com's (typically perceptive) analysis:

Save Machu Picchu another way: stay home and take the virtual trail. "In Search of Cultures Past: Cuzco, the Sacred Valley, and the Inka Trail":

What happened when archaeologists took on miners at Barkly West in the Northern Cape Province, near the National Monument of Canteen Koppie, in 1997.

The British government is underwriting a one billion pound dam at Ilisu in Turkey, which will wipe out many Kurdish towns and villages and destroy a site of international archaeological interest. It will flood the town of Anatolia, which dates from the Middles Ages, and was given archaeological protection in 1978.

The American Institute of Archaeology offers some suggestions.

"The relationship between archaeologists and Native Americans…has not always been smooth, and until recently it has been characterized by a lack of effective communication. Here we present articles from past issues of ARCHAEOLOGY, news items, and links to sites concerned with the ongoing dialogue between Native Americans and archaeologists"

Archaeology magazine Feb 1999:

PHOENIX: Mesa anthropologist Jerry Howard's heart aches when he recalls the time a prehistoric Hohokam Indian site near here was bulldozed into oblivion. The outlook is improving, however. Many developers are becoming more sensitive and interested in helping to preserve Arizona's past, if they can afford to. "It's a matter of education rather than creating new laws," said Tom Simplot, assistant director of the industry group Home Builders of Central Arizona. "As good citizens, we recognize efforts to preserve our past while building our future."

A nice story from 1995. Note how the Native Americans saw both the "backhoes of archaeologists and bulldozers of developers" as an unwelcome intrusion into their sacred lands; a clear conspiracy between archaeologists and developers?

First Americans Journal

The Brickell stone circle site in Miami, Florida, is threatened by a $126 million development project.

This began in 1990 as a proposal for 100 miles of new highway between

Indianapolis and Evansville, Ind., and has steadily grown. By the end of 1992 Congress had expanded the project tenfold, transforming it into a NAFTA Superhighway proposal. There has been no proper investigation of archaeological impacts.

A dig at City Hall Park, Lower Manhattan, has turned up human remains that may relate to a politically contentious African Burial Ground. Field archaeologists, contractually bound to secrecy over the project, have been threatened with a $1000 fine if they reveal details of the site.

Archaeology Magazine, Sept/Oct 1999:

It's not just the UK that's turning its civil war battlefields into housing estates and roads.

"It is estimated that nearly 80% of the archaeological sites that once existed in the state have been destroyed or severely damaged, primarily by modern land practices such as development and farming. Many sites have also been damaged by looting." But the State Historical Society of Wisconsin is fighting hard to preserve what remains.

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin: