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A four-tier approach to the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Peter G. Stone*
Affiliation:
*International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies, School of Arts and Cultures, Newcastle University, 18–20 Windsor Terrace, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK (Email: peter.stone@ncl.ac.uk)

Abstract

This vitally important article sets out the obstacles and opportunities for the protection of archaeological sites and historic buildings in zones of armed conflict. Readers will not need to be told that modern munitions are devastating and sometimes wayward, nor that cultural heritage once destroyed cannot simply be rebuilt. The author makes a vivid case for the role of respect for the past in mitigating hostility and so winning the peace as well as aiding the victory, and guides us through the forest of players. Agencies so numerous, so obscure and so often ineffective might prompt the response ‘a plague on all your acronyms’. All the more important, then, that the author and his associates continue their campaign and are supported by everyone who believes that cultural property has a value that lies beyond sectional interests.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2013

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