Archaeology, Cultural Heritage Protection and Community Engagement in South Asia Robin Coningham · Nick Lewer Editors Archaeology, Cultural Heritage Protection and Community Engagement in South Asia Editors Robin Coningham Nick Lewer Durham University Coral Associates Ltd Durham, UK Skipton, UK ISBN 978-981-13-6236-1 ISBN 978-981-13-6237-8 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6237-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2019933316 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2019 Chapters 1, 5 and 12 are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). For further details see license information in the chapters. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifcally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microflms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifc statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affliations. Cover illustration: © Melisa Hasan This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore PREFACE UNESCO and Durham University jointly established the UNESCO Chair on Archaeological Ethics and Practice in Cultural Heritage in 2014. The Chair team recognizes that cultural heritage and archaeol- ogy are drivers for creative economies and that their protection contrib- utes to sustainable development. It recognizes that heritage can play a unifying role in post-confict and post-disaster responses but also that unethical or unbalanced promotion may alienate communities, gener- ate confict and the destruction of heritage. Durham’s UNESCO Chair addresses this challenge by shaping and contributing to debates on pro- fessional standards and responsibilities; legal and ethical codes and val- ues; concepts of stewardship and custodianship; research ethics and illicit antiquities; and the social, ethical and economic impacts of the promo- tion of heritage, particularly at religious and pilgrimage sites. To enhance this programme, Durham’s UNESCO Chair has worked with new part- ners and sponsors, to meet its mission to: • develop new guidelines and exemplar material for postgraduate education; • devise benchmarks for the measuring social, ethical and economic impacts of Cultural Heritage; • provide capacity building to heritage professionals and managers in South Asia and the UK through workshops and on-site training; v vi PREFACE • create opportunities for postgraduate research and education in the UK; • and generate networks of heritage professionals, academics and stakeholders. Community consultations offer the opportunity of exploring ways in which individuals and groups can be involved in the long-term sustaina- ble protection of sites of archaeological and historical importance, to dis- cuss the future sustainable development of tourism and pilgrimage to the site that benefts the local community, and to establish mechanisms for continuing community engagement in archaeological excavations, pres- ervation and protection. This volume of case studies from across South Asia represents the UNESCO Chair’s frst collective steps towards these collective goals. Durham, UK Robin Coningham Skipton, UK Nick Lewer CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 Robin Coningham and Nick Lewer 2 Communities and Micro-Heritage in Bhitargarh, Bangladesh: A Case Study 17 Shahnaj Husne Jahan 3 Awakening Myths, Legends and Heritage 31 K. Krishnan and Vrushab Mahesh 4 Kuragala: Religious and Ethnic Communities in a Contested Sacred Heritage Site in Sri Lanka 45 Venerable Mahinda Deegalle 5 Community Engagement in the Greater Lumbini Area of Nepal: The Micro-Heritage Case Study of Dohani 59 Nick Lewer, Anouk Lafortune-Bernard, Robin Coningham, Kosh Prasad Acharya and Ram Bahadur Kunwar 6 Protecting Heritage and Strengthening Community Engagement in Nepal 75 Marielle Richon vii viii CONTENTS 7 Tourism and Community Engagement in World Heritage Sites, Nepal 89 Lisa Choegyal 8 Mapping the Intangible: ‘At Risk’ Heritage Landscapes in Northern Pakistan 105 Zahra Hussain 9 Community Engagement in Natural Heritage Conservation Stewardship, Nepal 121 Rajendra Narsingh Suwal 10 Reclaiming the Heritage of Bagan: Communities in Myanmar Learn to Raise Their Voice 137 Kai Weise 11 Communities, Identities, Confict and Appropriation in South Asia 151 Robin Coningham and Nick Lewer 12 Conclusion 165 Robin Coningham and Nick Lewer Index 187 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Kosh Prasad Acharya joined the Government of Nepal’s Department of Archaeology in 1978, serving as Head of Excavations Branch before holding the offce of Director-General of Archaeology until 2009. Following retirement, he joined UNESCO as a Consultant and was appointed Executive Director of the Pashupati Area Development Trust until 2016, and is an Honorary Research Fellow attached to Durham’s UNESCO Chair. Lisa Choegyal is British-Born and has made Kathmandu her home since the mid-1970s. With a background in the private sector as a Director of Tiger Mountain, one of Asia’s foremost adventure tourism pioneers, for the past 25 years, Choegyal has worked as a consultant in pro-poor sus- tainable tourism throughout the Asia-Pacifc region. Robin Coningham holds UNESCO’s Chair in Archaeological Ethics and Practice in Cultural Heritage at Durham University and has exten- sive experience of archaeology and post-disaster heritage interventions across South Asia. He is interested in sustainable community engage- ment with archaeological excavations and site preservation, and the bal- ance between heritage protection, pilgrimage and development. Venerable Mahinda Deegalle is Professor of Religions, Philosophies and Ethics at Bath Spa University. He is the author of Popularizing Buddhism (2006) and editor of Buddhism, Confict and Violence in Modern Sri Lanka (2006), Dharma to the UK (2008), Vesak, Peace and ix x NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Harmony (2015) and Justice and Statecraft (2017). His research inter- ests are Buddhism, Politics, Ethics and Violence. Zahra Hussain is an architect and cultural geographer based in Pakistan. Her research focuses on architecture and sustainable develop- ment particularly in the Mountain Communities of Northern Pakistan. She leads the Laajverd Visiting School Program that is invested in doc- umenting, preserving and incorporating local architectural pattern lan- guage in contemporary mountain architecture. Shahnaj Husne Jahan is Professor of Archaeology and the Director of the Center for Archaeological Studies at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh. She has been excavating the archaeological site of Bhitargarh in Bangladesh since 2008 and developed a blend of strategies to stimulate public interest in archaeological heritage preservation and management. K. Krishnan is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Professor of Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, India. His publi- cations are in the feld of ceramic petrology, archaeometallurgy, ethnoar- chaeological studies, South Asian Prehistory and early historic urbanism. Ram Bahadur Kunwar is Chief Archaeological Offcer in the Government of Nepal’s Department of Archaeology. Head of the Excavation Branch, he has led archaeological projects throughout Nepal, lectures on Nepali history, culture and archaeology and has published widely on these subjects. Mr. Kunwar represents the Government of Nepal in the Japanese-Funds-in-Trust for UNESCO project within the Greater Lumbini Area. Anouk Lafortune-Bernard is a Ph.D. student affliated to Durham University’s UNESCO Chair in Archaeological Ethics and Practice in Cultural Heritage. Her research focuses on the social and economic impact of cultural heritage. She has done most of her research in South Asia, including sites in Nepal, Sri Lanka and India. Nick Lewer was Professor of Peace and Confict Studies at the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University and is now Director of Coral Associates Ltd. He has worked widely in South Asia focusing on community engagement, dialogue processes, education and project monitoring and evaluation. NOTES ON Contributors xi Vrushab Mahesh is Assistant Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He was awarded a University Grants Commission Research Fellowship