Management and Conservation Policies of Cultural Heritage in Jericho

Annali dell‟Università degli Studi di Ferrara Museologia Scientifica e Naturalistica

ISSN 1824-2707 volume speciale 2012

Management and conservation policies of cultural heritage in Jericho
Ahmed Rjoob
Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Palestine [e-mail]

__________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract This paper presents the management and conservation policies of cultural heritage applied in Jericho since the British mandate time. It highlights the main jurisdiction, management and planning frameworks that have direct impacts on the conservation and safeguarding of its cultural significance. It also tries to show how various conservation and valorisation strategies cause irreversible damage to cultural heritage resources in Jericho. Keywords: Conservation, Management, Valorization, Cultural Heritage, Jericho. __________________________________________________________________________________ Cultural Heritage of Jericho Jericho is known as the oldest city in the World. It is located 10 kilometres northwest of the Dead Sea in the Jordan Rift Valley (Anfinset 2006,63). It lies 250 meters below the sea level, making it also the lowest city on earth (MoTA 2005, 12-13). Its diverse geological formation and unique tropical, sub-tropical climate zones, and perennial springs have made it an attractive place for settling down and practising new subsistence pattern based on the domestication of plants and animals since the 10th millennium B.C (Rast 1992, 55). In the 8th millennium, it became one of the main centres of the Neolithic revolution in the World (Stein 2003, 1). A bird‟s eye view on the rift valley shows Jericho as a unique green oasis in the Jordan Rift Valley. Its cultural landscape and sky horizon has been shaped by numerous natural and cultural heritage components since thousands of years, including natural cliffs, archaeological sites, traditional mud-brick houses, palaces,

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