A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION OF PLEISTOCENE SITES: THE FUTURE OF THE GLOBAL HERITAGE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION Dissertation der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Naturwissenschaften (Dr. rer. nat.) vorgelegt von Nuria Sanz M.A. aus Madrid/Spanien Tübingen 2019 Gedruckt mit Genehmigung der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. Tag der mündlichen Qualifikation: 15.10.2019 Dekan: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Rosenstiel 1. Berichterstatter: Prof. Nicholas J. Conard Ph.D. 2. Berichterstatter: PD Dr. Jörg Linstädter List of Contents Summary & acknowledgements ............................................................................................. 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 7 Sanz, N. 2018. UNESCO, Place of Anthropology in. In: Callan, H. (ed.), The International Encyclopaedia of Anthropology, 12 vol. Hoboken/New Jersey, Chichester/West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons, vol. X, pp. 1-8 ............................................................................................. 107 Sanz, N. 2018. Transnational Serial Nomination of European Neanderthal Sites for the UNESCO World Heritage List. In: Hieke, K., Weniger, G.-Ch. and Powe, N. (eds.), Ice Age Europe. Network of Heritage Sites Magazine, Issue 2, Bonn, pp. 44-47............................... 117 Sanz, N. 2017. For More Sustainable Natural and Cultural Diversity All Over the World. In: Sanz, N. (ed.), Tropical Forest Conservation. Long-Term Processes of Human Evolution Cultural Adaptations and Consumption Patterns. Mexico City: UNESCO, pp. 336-351 ...... 123 Sanz, N. 2015. Conclusions and the way forward. In: Sanz, N. (ed.), Human Origin Sites and the World Heritage Convention in Eurasia, HEADS 4 (World Heritage Paper Series, 41, Vol. II). Paris: UNESCO, pp. 150-164 .......................................................................................... 141 Sanz, N. 2015. Conclusions and the Way Forward. In: Sanz, N., (ed.), Human Origin Sites and the World Heritage Convention in the Americas, HEADS 5 (World Heritage Paper Series, 42, Vol. II). Paris: UNESCO, pp. 127-133 ............................................................................ 157 Sanz, N. 2014. New paleoanthropological paradigms to explore Human Evolution in Asia within the framework of the World Heritage Convention. In: Sanz, N. (ed.), Human Origin Sites and the World Heritage Convention in Asia, HEADS 3 (World Heritage Paper Series, 39). Paris: UNESCO, pp. 256-270 ......................................................................................... 165 Sanz, N. 2012. Africa: the origins of humankind. Towards a better representation of human evolution in the framework of the World Heritage Convention. In: Sanz, N. (ed.), Human Origin Sites and the World Heritage Convention in Africa, HEADS 2 (World Heritage Paper Series, 33). Paris: UNESCO, pp. 228-250 ............................................................................. 181 Sanz, N. 2012. Rock Art and the UNESCO World Heritage List. In: McDonald, J. and Veth, P. (eds.), A Companion to Rock Art. Hoboken/New Jersey: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 491- 514 .......................................................................................................................................... 205 1 A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION OF PLEISTOCENE SITES: THE FUTURE OF THE GLOBAL HERITAGE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION Executive summary Nuria Sanz As general coordinator of the UNESCO Thematic World Heritage Programme on Human Evolution: dispersals, adaptations and social developments (HEADS), I was responsible (2008-2018) for the guidance and management of a multilateral research platform ensuring in an interdisciplinary way the integrated preservation of the early sites related to the process of becoming human. The outcomes and recommendations formulated in this work result from a combination of my academic background as a prehistorian and my professional background as a civil servant of the United Nations, in which I specialized over the last 20 years in international cooperation for the conservation of natural and cultural heritage. This work revised the full spectrum of standard setting texts produced and adopted by the international community on heritage preservation and related matters over the last 70 years and justifies the confidence in the role of the World Heritage Convention of UNESCO in doing so. There is not a better instrument of international public law to merge natural and cultural heritages in an integrative multilateral approach and guidance, as does this unique legal framework, which encapsulates the complexity of our evolutionary heritage. However, the global scientific HEADS platform identified some gaps as well as possible improvements to be taken into consideration in order to apply the UNESCO 1972 Convention for the full benefit of the fragile and vulnerable physical conditions of our remote past. I analysed the full spectrum of the UNESCO decision-making process when examining new candidature proposals of sites not yet inscribed as well as the deliberations on the state of conservation of sites already inscribed on the World Heritage List. On the basis of the data elaborated and presented here, this dissertation proposes further recommendations and a clear applied research road map to be performed by the international community of researchers and policymakers based on the most recent discoveries and the state of the art of the collaboration between disciplines involved in human evolution research and preservation. On the basis of a critical revision of the application of the criteria that justify the Outstanding Universal Value over time, this work discusses and identifies the need for a specific chapter in 2 the Operational Guidelines of the Convention related to Pleistocene sites and properties related to non-sedentary populations. The International community at UNESCO, guided by the most advanced research and conservation knowledge, should set up specific rules and categories for inscription and standards for the integrated preservation of Pleistocene sites. These pages illustrate how to channel the process to pass from Pleistocene knowledge to a Pleistocene heritage, and how to avoid the useless distinction between the arrays of heritages: immovable, movable, intangible, documentary or molecular when defining the very nature of a site related to our early past as humans. Finally, my dissertation invites the research and conservation communities to merge practices and to set up a collaborative dialogue in the interest of our long-term cultural evolution. This dissertation conceives the origins of our remotest cultural diversity as a human capital, which can guide our species on its journey through the enormous challenges toward climate change and artificial intelligence. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I dedicate my dissertation to my parents, Rosario and Florentino, who educated my curiosity and to Viktor who since the beginning understood my passion and boosted my commitment to strengthening the links between academia and the diplomatic multilateral UN context. I would like to thank Francesco Bandarin, as Director of the World Heritage Center of UNESCO, for his trust in my work and for his continuous support to HEADS as a tool for a better representation of the Prehistoric Heritage in the List. I am in debt with Ambassador María José Sansegundo for her engagement with the thematic project and her determination to convince the World Heritage Committee of the significance of dealing with the large timespan starting with the origins of our species. This dissertation has been supported by a multidisciplinary research community of more than 200 scholars that trusted the task of UNESCO and its role in involving science in the political decision making processes to better preserve our remotest past. Specially, I thank and recognize the remarkable role of the members of the scientific committee of HEADS: Professors Robin Dennell, Margherita Mussi, and Francois Semah. I am particularly thankful and indebted to Professor Nicholas Conard who persuaded me to go further in my research and to elaborate the basis of a second step of HEADS with this work. I also thank the scholars and colleagues of the Tübingen University: Jörg Linstaedter, Sibylle Wolf, Svenja Schray, Ewa Dutkiewicz, Jordi Serangeli, Johannes Krause, Mima Batalovic as 3 well as my colleagues of the University Complutense of Madrid: Alicia Torija and Manuel Domínguez Rodrigo. HEADS work was sustained on daily basis by Rachel Lewis, Chantal Connaughton, Penelope Kennan, Dorian Rommens, Anjelica Young and Sarah Ranlett and I thank them for their invaluable help. 4 EINE KRITISCHE ANALYSE DER INTERNATIONALEN STANDARDS FÜR FORSCHUNG UND ERHALTUNG DER STÄTTEN DES PLEISTOZÄN: DIE ZUKUNFT DES WELTERBES MENSCHLICHER EVOLUTION Zusammenfassung/Executive Summary Nuria Sanz Als Gesamt-Koordinatorin des UNESCO Thematic World Heritage Programme on Human Evolution: dispersals, adaptations and social developments (HEADS), war ich von 2008-2018 verantwortlich für die Steuerung und Leitung einer multilateralen Forschungs-Plattform, deren Aufgabe es war, durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz die umfassende Erhaltung jener frühen Stätten zu sichern, die mit dem Prozess der