Impact case study database

Training in Action (2014-2019) embeds DU research in Libya and Tunisia through a distinctive structured training pathway. Heritage professionals and police agents work in partnership with the Durham team on new data they have harvested in their professional roles ‘on the ground’, developing a range of analytical and management methods relevant to the heritage in their care, publishing their results together and developing new integrated protection protocols and methods. Impact is claimed in (1) the advancement of knowledge and skills, (2) changes to recording and protection strategies and (3) increased reach in the establishment of new professional structures and cooperation:

Training in Action embraces all Departments of Antiquities and has empowered 74 officials in Libya and Tunisia to record and protect the vulnerable heritage assets in their care. Training using post-Roman datasets and sites, for example at Iunca, Tunisia, has resulted in the upskilling of 70 heritage professionals (representing c. 70% of all professionals actively employed in archaeology in both countries) and four police officials currently in post [ E1-Sheet 1(p.4)-Overall Training]. 93% of participants (69 in total) state that the knowledge and skills gained has advanced their understanding of the heritage under their care [ E1-Sheet 1(p.4)-Feedback all training] and the training is considered to have had “ significant value and impact... [which] advanced and positively changed the knowledge and skills of staff members” [ **E7-**DoA Libya West].

Figure 1. Locations of the sites and monuments recorded and protected by Training in Action mini-projects.

To ensure that the project secured substance and consequence in the long term, 35 of the 74 trainees were upskilled in 2017-19 to an advanced level. The 35 learners chose mini-projects from their regions of authority [ E2], and all believe that they now have an enhanced understanding of approaches to heritage overall [ E1-Sheet 2(p.5)-Adv. class feedback-heritage management columns]. They identify new efficiencies in cultural heritage protection methods [ E1-Sheet 2(p.5)-Adv. class feedback-Masoud] as well as highlighting their increased confidence in undertaking tasks independently, for example the co-ordination of a new, much-needed scheme of common terminologies for use by the DoAs in Libya East and West and Tunisia with HeDAP [ E1-Sheet 2(p.5)-Adv. class feedback-Atelawi]. Side-by-side training of officials from both countries not only intensified the training experience but also encouraged strong bilateral cooperation. Hajar Krimi, INP Inspector el Djem, testifies: “ the most interesting aspect in this course is the growth of the team and the collaboration between Tunisian and Libyan archaeologists…it will develop very effective protection methods for the archaeological heritage, on the one hand, and it will establish further cooperation between the two countries, on the other” - [ E1-Sheet 2(p.6)-Adv. class feedback-Krimi]. DU training even stimulated collaborative educational initiatives: at the sites of El Djem and Lepcis Magna, Libyan and Tunisian heritage officers developed joint activities for International Museum Day 2018 enabling children to gain an experience of museum work [ E3, 12:30-13:07- Atelawi].

Deploying their new knowledge and skills, the advanced trainees were materially influenced by Leone’s research on the post-Roman archaeology of the region [R1,2], developing mini projects which prioritised the recording and protection of monuments and zones in their territories, bringing about significant change in heritage recording and protection measures:

(i) Enhanced site protection: officials have catalogued 198 new post-Roman and early Islamic sites in an area of 200km² in the Gebel Nāfusa, using the systematic recording techniques and knowledge they acquired during their training. All of these sites are now recognised by official agencies and the course participants are actively working with UNESCO to inform the list of World Heritage Sites at Risk in Libya. At Iunca (Tunisia), for example, new discoveries made by heritage officers using geophysics and field survey have generated long-term recommendations for conservation projects which have now been officially endorsed by relevant government agencies [ E4-joint management plan for Iunca-DU and INP] . Co-developed trainee-led projects involving field survey have also resulted in the definition of a new buffer zone around Cyrene, now endorsed by a UNESCO report by the DoA [ E2 Proj 5-Al Hrari]. At Sabratha, a co-produced evaluation of recent conflict damage and gunfire on monuments (using DU recording forms) resulted in the development of a new collaborative project, funded by Gerda Henkel Patrimonies (EUR26,005 7-2020), which combines DU trainees with specialists at the University of the West of England measuring ballistic damage on stone ahead of restoration measures [ E2 Proj 4; E3-video: 4:42 to 5:17; E7]. Significant new protection measures for mapping and assessment of urban threats to heritage have been achieved across both countries, for example the delineation of buffer zones at Qaser Alakyar and Zwara, Tocra, Thyna and Gabés and the creation of standard procedures at work at Carthage for the INP [ E2 Projs 3, 6, 13, 14, 16].

(ii) New strategies to protect heritage assets from trade in antiquities: the roll-out of the HeDAP digital application by Leone, drawing on research experience with vulnerable portable material culture [R2-Chs 4-5], has directly involved the DoAs and course participants in using HeDAP to record both post-Roman and early Islamic archaeological remains in situ and objects in museum collections and to monitor damage, vandalism, theft and illicit trade. Terminology (standardised in 3 languages) and testing was undertaken as a collaborative exercise before the tool was launched in 2019. HeDAP has now been used to progress a National Museum database for the whole of Libya, documenting a significant proportion of objects in the collections at Tripoli for the West and at Cyrene museum (in modern Shahat) for the East, and now in extended to the Sfax region in Tunisia, with over 10,262 individual assets recorded to date by project trainees [ E2 Projs 8, 10, 15, 24, 26, 27, 29; E3-video: 9:07 to 9:30; E7]. Across east Libya, Kufic inscriptions in stone have also been recorded by the DoA using HeDAP after DU support and training facilitated a successful application by heritage officials to the Prince Claus Fund for Cultural Emergency Response (EUR13,000 1-2018). This facilitated recording then transport of the inscriptions to new secure locations, while elsewhere statues at Cyrene are now safeguarded off-site. In short, HeDAP has served as a mechanism to enable action in valuing and preserving heritage. Its importance and implementation is strongly endorsed by the Departments of Antiquities in Libya East and West [ E6, E7] and the General Director of the INP Tunisia [ E5]. [REDACTED] This rapid recording system, its associated catalogues and photographic documentation are now essential to police and international agencies in the prevention of looting. The potential transfer of HeDAP to other parts of the world is highlighted by the European Counter Terrorism Centre who recognise its “great impact on the fight against the illicit traffic of antiquities” and advocate its implementation in Iraq [ E9] by the Government at the Museum of Baghdad [ E10].

Training in Action has materially drawn on Leone’s research on urban sites and their hinterlands [R1,2], and on joint work with Nebbia and the trainees [R3], changing knowledge and skills and the working practices of newly trained officials in both Libya and Tunisia [e.g. E2 Projs 2, 6, 12, 13 & 28] . While one enduring impact is the enhanced capacity of individuals in the DoA to implement techniques such as GPS and photogrammetry work, another is through long-term changes in the structure of national heritage protection. Recognition of the vulnerability and importance of post-Roman archaeology [R1,2] and a need to protect sites and landscapes using integrated methods [R3,4], has resulted in the implementation of new research-based units, namely the creation of a National Office for Geographic Information Systems in Sfax Tunisia, which is now enhancing the management of sites on the ground [ E5] and a new Survey Unit in Libya East which is undertaking surface and remote survey and GIS of vulnerable assets [ E6]. Materially influenced by Leone’s research [R2-Chs 4-5], work with protection agencies and the development of HeDAP [R4], a further impact is the creation of three new Museum Units in Libya and Tunisia which manage artefact collections and co-operate with international agencies to limit illegal trade in antiquities [ E5, E6]. Training in Action has also led directly to the appointment of advanced level trainees at the Libyan DoAs both East and West, and in Tunisia. Elgumati (Libya East Survey Unit), Bouleigha (Libya East Museum Unit), Azouz (Tunisia GIS Survey Unit) and Hamdi (Tunisia Museum Unit) all lead on these new government agencies [ E5, E6 & E7], while the DoA Tripoli (Libya West) reports that “ as a direct result of the training project and the development of HeDAP we have created a new unit to manage the database, with the leadership of Faraj Atelawi, who was trained by Durham University and built a team of trained staff, training them” [ E7].

Course participants have also extended their new skills to third parties. The trainees, via their mini projects, have rolled out training to an additional 86 employees and officials at their respective heritage agencies and museums [ E2 Projs 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 17, 19, 22, 24, 29, 32, 33]. This includes follow-on training for 15 colleagues in Cyrenaica [ E6 & E2 Proj 32] and a new team in Tunisia: “ I started by training a local team, made up of nine trainees on sites and museums in the Sfax municipality. Then worked to create a team on a national level [in Djerba, Gasfa, Oudhna, Carthage, Susa]” [ E3, 7:04 to 7:59-Hamdi, Institut National du Patrimoine de Tunisie]. In Libya, Mohamed Bouleigha (DoA) catalogued objects in the museum at Shahat and then created “ a team that documented objects in almost all the east of Libya, including… Tolmeita (Ptolemais), Tocra, al-Bayda, Susa (Apollonia), Cyrene, Derna and Al Qubbah” [ E3, 8:35 to 9:07]. This cascading of training significantly expands the reach of the project in many different skills [ E1-Sheet 2(p.5)-Adv. class feedback-Trabelsi & Naili] e.g. INP-Trabelsi “ I have been disseminating this new knowledge and sharing it with my colleagues at INP, both technicians and engineers, by training them in the use of GIS and photogrammetry”.

Training also included outreach activities in schools and local communities e.g. Sfax (Tunisia) and Germa (Libya) [ E2 Projs 7 & 15] “ to work towards engaging them in the decision-making process as part of heritage management” [ E3, 2:08-2:20] and to encourage “ the local community and decision-makers to work together to preserve and protect archaeological sites” [ E1-Adv. class feedback-Abdulafith]. Where once trainees saw threats to heritage they now “ view the community as an active partner in the protection of cultural heritage” [ E3, 9:31-9:59]. With project support, trainees are working with schools in Fezzan, south-west Libya, and count lectures, site visits and educational leaflets on relevant archaeology among their achievements as well as advising on measures to protect associated heritage assets [ E3, 10:00-11:19] . So far, over 200 children in have been involved. This is a valuable ‘first’ for a badly affected region in the conflict where cultural initiatives have not been prioritised.