The future of Mali's past.

The future of Mali's past. One of the greatest disasters for African archaeology The continent of Africa has the longest record of human activity of any part of the world and along with its geographical extent, it contains an enormous archaeological resource. Scholars have studied Egyptology for centuries but archaeologists have only paid serious attention to the rest is thesystematic plundering of archaeological sites for the antiquities trade Antiquities trade is the trade in historical artifacts from around the world. This trade may be illicit or completely legal. The illicit antiquities trade involves non-scientific extraction that ignores the archaeological and anthropological context from which the artifacts derive. (e.g. Schmidt & McIntosh 1996; ICOM ICOM International Council Of MuseumsICOM Integrated CommunicationsICOM Input, Control, Output, & MechanismICOM Integrated COMSECICOM International Currency Options Master AgreementICOM Improved Conventional MineICOM Interim Communications Operations Method 1994). An eloquent proof of thisplundering is the beautiful catalogue 'Earth and ore',published in 1997 by Schaedler. Of the 668 objects illustratedfull-colour in this catalogue all come, except for a dozen objects andsome forgeries, from recent looting of sites in Mali, Niger, BurkinaFaso Burkina Faso(burkē`nə fä`sō), republic (2005 est. pop. 13,925,000), 105,869 sq mi (274,200 sq km), W Africa. It borders on Mali in the west and north, on Niger in the northeast, on Benin in the southeast, and on Togo, Ghana, and , Chad, Ghana and Nigeria. Regions in Mali that are particularly rich in cultural heritage,such as the Niger Inner Delta and the Dogon country, are particularlyshocking examples of this systematic plundering. Archaeological researchin 1991 in the south of the Delta, undertaken within the framework ofthe Malian-Dutch `Toguere' project of the Institut des SciencesHumaines at Bamako, showed that 45% of the 830 visited sites exhibitedtraces of illicit excavations (Dembele et al. 1993). In 1996, a sampleof 80 of these sites was revisited by Annette Schmidt. The percentage ofplundered sites had increased by 20% (Annette Schmidt pers. comm.). Onedoes not need much imagination to realize the scale of this disaster. The Dogon country, widely known through the research of theGriaule-Dieterlen group, suffers from the systematic plundering of itscultural property. Of the 143 Dogon statues published by Leloup in herbook `Statuaire Dogon' (1994), only six, from the collections ofthe Musee de l'Homme, have a more or less attested provenance. Manyof the famous `togu na' published in 1976 by Tito & SandraSpini no longer exist. The Dogon must either embed the carved woodenpillars of their `togu na' in concrete or remove the carved partsto protect them from increasingly insolent in��so��lent?adj.1. Presumptuous and insulting in manner or speech; arrogant.2. Audaciously rude or disrespectful; impertinent. robbers (Ravenhill 1995).Grave goods In archaeology and anthropology grave goods are the items buried along with the body.They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods are a type of votive deposit. have also been stolen from the Tellem burial caves, some ofwhich were excavated in the 1960s and '70s by Utrecht University The university's motto is "Sol Iustitiae Illustra Nos", which means "Sun of Justice, shine upon us".Utrecht University is led by the University Board, consisting of Yvonne van Rooy (president), prof.dr. Willem Hendrik Gispen (rector magnificus) and Hans Amman. and the Institut des Sciences Humaines at Bamako (e.g. Bedaux 1988;1991). The cultural heritage of Mali is not only threatened by plundering.The architectural heritage is endangered by disinterest and lack ofresources. The example of Djenne, one of the oldest cities of WestAfrica West AfricaA region of western Africa between the Sahara Desert and the Gulf of Guinea. It was largely controlled by colonial powers until the 20th century.West African adj. & n. , excavated by Susan and Rod McIntosh (McIntosh 1995) is striking.This city played a major role in the development of the trans-Saharantrade and in the diffusion of Islam in West Africa. Its mudarchitecture, of which the mosque is a remarkable example, testifies tothe past richness and vitality of the city (Maas & Mommersteeg 1992;Bedaux & Van der Waals 1994). The mud architecture whichdisseminated the reputation of Djenne so widely is threatened today, notbecause of the fragile material, but because of economic recession whichprevents many of its inhabitants from maintaining their houses. Also,modernity and the aspirations of the people of Djenne for betterconditions and for social change induce behaviours endangering thesurvival of the architecture. An inventory made in 1995 at the requestof the Dutch Embassy in Bamako (Bedaux et al. 1996) revealed that of the134 houses studied in 1984 by a team from Eindhoven University (Maas& Mommersteeg 1992), 40 had already disappeared completely and 34new structures had been built following the complete destruction ofimportant houses, some of which were several centuries old. The plundering of archaeological sites, the destruction ofclassified sites and the illicit traffic of cultural goods has led theMalian authorities to implement several action plans intended to slowdown these disturbing trends (Sidibe 1995). For example: * the adoption of legislation, the organization of archaeologicalexcavations and attempts to limit the plundering and illicit export ofthe national cultural heritage; * the creation of Cultural Missions in order to control access toand protect archaeological sites, and to sensitize sen��si��tizev.To make hypersensitive or reactive to an antigen, such as pollen, especially by repeated exposure. local populations tothe importance of the three Malian sites included in the World HeritageList of UNESCO UNESCO:see United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. UNESCOin full United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Djenne, Bandiagara and Tombouctou); * the promotion of archaeological survey projects by the Institutdes Sciences Humaines at Bamako (for example in the region of the Lakesand the southern Inner Niger Delta The Niger Delta, the delta of the Niger River in Nigeria, is a densely populated region sometimes called the Oil Rivers because it was once a major producer of palm oil. ); * the engagement of the media in sensitizing local populations tothe importance of their pasts (through television, radio and posters); * the sensitization sensitization/sen��si��ti��za��tion/ (sen?si-ti-za��shun)1. administration of an antigen to induce a primary immune response.2. exposure to allergen that results in the development of hypersensitivity. of the public through museum displays and byexhibitions such as `Vallees du Niger' and `Djenne: Cite duPatrimoine Mondial'. The exhibition `Vallees du Niger', organized by Samuel Sidibe,Jean Polet and the late Jean Devisse in Paris in 1993, subsequently inLeiden, Bamako, Ouagadougou, Lagos, Nouakchott, Conakry and Niamey, forthe first time drew the attention of the general public, in Europe aswell as in Africa, to the phenomena which threaten Africa'sheritage. Also, the `Atelier Regional sur le Trafic Illicite des BiensCulturels en Afrique', organized at the time of the inauguration ofthis exhibition in Bamako in 1994 by ICOM and AFRICOM AFRICOM Africa Command , highlighted thesedangers and launched a call for international assistance (ICOM 1995). In response to this, and in order to study the social impact ofsuch actions, a support programme for the protection and theconservation of Malian heritage was established between the governmentof Mali and the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden, partners boundalready by a long-standing cultural co-operation. This programmeincludes inter alia [Latin, Among other things.] A phrase used in Pleading to designate that a particular statute set out therein is only a part of the statute that is relevant to the facts of the lawsuit and not the entire statute. : * a project to sensitize the population as to the importance of thearchaeological heritage of the Inner Niger Delta; * an international project of archaeological excavations at thesite of Dia; * a project for the documentation and collection of Dogon materialculture; * a project to support the National Museum of Mali by thecomputerized documentation of its collections and the enlargement of itsstorerooms; * a project for the restoration of the architecture of Djenne. Interest in this programme by the Royal Dutch Embassy in Bamako andthe Minister for Cooperation of the Netherlands (Pronk Verb 1. pronk - jump straight up; "kangaroos pronk"bound, jump, leap, spring - move forward by leaps and bounds; "The horse bounded across the meadow"; "The child leapt across the puddle"; "Can you jump over the fence?" 1995) led, at theend of 1996, to the award of a grant by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs foreign affairspl.n.Affairs concerning international relations and national interests in foreign countries. of the Netherlands for a six-year period. The progress to date of thedifferent projects is briefly described below. The sensitization project in the Inner Niger Delta Despite theresults obtained already by the Malian authorities, it is clear that ifone wants to act against plundering in an effective way, strong supportfor these ideals is needed from the local populations. To obtain this, aspecial information campaign was undertaken to promote the idea ofprotecting the physical remains of the past. In an Islamic community Noun 1. Islamic Community - a clandestine group of southeast Asian terrorists organized in 1993 and trained by al-Qaeda; supports militant Muslims in Indonesia and the Philippines and has cells in Singapore and Malaysia and Indonesia this is by no means certain, given that a pre-Islamic past is notnecessarily of value in itself. This is less of a question as far as theIslamic heritage of Djenne and Tombouctou is concerned, but it raisesimmediate questions of overlapping public spheres in the promotion ofheritage. The sensitization project was designed for a period of threeyears (1998-2000), to promote images of the past that would be sensitiveto such alternative accounts by: * the organization of an itinerant exhibition on the archaeologicalheritage; * the production of a play performed by a group from the NationalTheatre of Mali on the plundering and the illicit export of culturalheritage; * introducing the exhibition and the theatre in 25 selectedvillages in the Inner Niger Delta, in an effort to stimulate localperceptions of the past as a resource that would promote localdevelopment; * creating local committees in each village that would take on therole of surveying and protecting archaeological sites as a communityresource. The project has also allowed collaboration between three nationalcultural institutions concerned with promoting national culture -- theMission Culturelle de Djenne, the Musee National du Mali and the TheatreNational -- which have joint responsibility for implementing thisproject. The international archaeological project in Dia This is a six-year(1998-2003) archaeological research project, designed as a follow-up tothe systematic inventory of sites in this part of the Inner Niger Deltaled by the Institut des Sciences Humaines over the last 15 years or so(e.g. Raimbault & Sanogo 1991; Dembele et al. 1993). The overallobjective of the Dia project is to study the origins and growth of anancient city in the Inner Niger Delta that can be compared with that ofJenne-Jeno/Djenne (McIntosh 1995). Dia was chosen because it is locatedin a zone particularly threatened by plundering, although the tellsthemselves were largely undisturbed. The project, led by Rijksmuseumvoor Volkenkunde at Leiden, associates, in addition to the Malianpartners of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Ministry of Culture and Tourism Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Indonesia) Ministry of Culture and Tourism (South Korea) Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Turkey) (for the patrimonial PATRIMONIAL. A thing, which comes from the father, and by extension, from the mother or other ancestor. aspect: Mission Culturelle de Djenne and Musee National) and theMinistere de l'Education Superieure et de la Recherche La Recherche is a monthly French language popular science magazine covering recent scientific news. It is published by the Soci��t�� d'��ditions scientifiques (the Scientific Publishing Group), a subsidiary of Financi��re Tallandier. Scientifique(for archaeological research: Institut des Sciences Humaines and BamakoUniversity), the universities of Leiden, London and Paris (Bedaux etal., this volume). The sites of Dia, covering a total area of more than100 ha, have been excavated by working out a method of approach specificto this type of site. The excavation offers training possibilities forstudents, especially for those from the universities of Bamako, Leiden,London and Paris. The documentation and collection of Dogon material culture In 1964, the Institute of Human Biology Human biology is an interdisciplinary academic field of biology, biological anthropology, and medicine which focuses on humans; it is closely related to primate biology, and a number of other fields. at the University ofUtrecht, in collaboration with the Institut des Sciences Humaines inBamako, began archaeological and human biological research in the Dogonarea, which since 1989 has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritagesite. Following this research and the ethnoarchaeological research inthe years 1983-1985 (Bedaux 1986), and in the context of the systematicplundering of Dogon cultural heritage, this project aims at documentingDogon material culture, including architecture, as a first stage in theprocess of protecting this rich heritage. Considering that Dogonethnography is heavily biased towards `art', a collection of thematerial culture of everyday life has been made for the Music Nationaldu Mali in order to preserve a more representative selection of Dogonartefacts, especially those relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acctechnology and subsistence. Anexhibition of this collection is envisaged for the Musee National duMali and the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde at Leiden. The project isexpected to continue from 1999 to 2002 organized jointly by the MissionCulturelle de Bandiagara, the Musee National du Mali and the Rijksmuseumvoor Volkenkunde at Leiden. Project to support the National Museum of Mali The computerized management of inventories of public collections(including digital photographs) is an effective means of fightingagainst theft of art and the illicit traffic in cultural heritage.Moreover, it facilitates better collection management and theestablishment of networks for regional and international co-operation.From this point of view, the Music National du Mali and six otherAfrican museums collaborated with the International Council of Museums(ICOM), within the framework of the AFRICOM Program, in the developmentof a `Handbook of Standards' to be used as a basis for acomputerized management of the collections of African museums (AFRICOM1996). The implementation of these standards will allow the development,through the Internet, of a true network of exchange and information flowbetween African and Western museums. Within the framework of itspartnership with the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden, the MuseeNational du Mali elected to begin with the automatic recording of itscollections. This involves photographing each object using a digitalcamera and recording the data relating to the object in accordance withthe list of fields set out in the `Handbook of Standards'. Anadditional element of the project involves enlarging of the artefact See artifact. storerooms at the National Museum, so that it will be able toaccommodate the new collections that derive from the excavations at Diaand the Dogon ethnographic collection project. Project for the restoration of the architecture of Djenne It is hoped that this project, begun in October 1996, will create amodel that can be used as an example of good practice for thepreservation of a living city classified by UNESCO as a World HeritageSite (Bedaux & Van der Waals 1994). The responsibility of how tointegrate national and local interests for conserving a site of majorimportance for Malian cultural identity is being carried out within theframework of cultural co-operation between the Mission Culturelle deDjenne and the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde at Leiden. The aim of theproject is to refurbish 100 monumental houses in the town of Djenne(Bedaux et al. 1996) in order to contribute to: * local articulation of cultural identity; * maintenance of the material environment through the restorationof historic buildings; * the documentation of the architectural heritage; * the sensitization of the population; and the cultural and touristpromotion of the town. The causes of disinterest in traditional architecture are multiple.Changes in the extended family have made the traditional housesunsuitable as a living space. The interior of buildings have sometimesbeen transformed to meet the needs for occupation by several smallerfamilies. In certain cases, difficulties of succession have led to theabandonment of houses and their collapse. The use of modern materials,like cement, is increasingly favoured by well-to-do families. Thisraises significant questions of how to refurbish `lived heritage'in such a way as to retain the support of local people. The restorationwork is carried out by the masons of Djenne and is supervised by amodest executive office based in Djenne, including a director, anarchitectural firm, a controller-mason and a driver. A supportingcommittee and a scientific committee assist the office. It will be theresponsibility of this office to preserve for the future one of thegreat achievements of Malian culture. Moreover, this project, which willbe finished in 2003, will support cultural tourism -- essential for theeconomic development of Djenne. The future What remains open to question is how will a programme of projectssuch as these contribute to the possibility of Mali preserving itscultural heritage and in whose interests will this be negotiated? In aperiod of significant political change in Mall, heritage as a resourcethat can both unify the nation and express local difference is adifficult terrain to negotiate. At the same time, the programme raisesquestions for the material practices of conservation and the ability ofinternational collaboration to organize in an even more effective waythe protection and promotion of a particularly rich national heritage.It goes without saying that the national efforts of Mali alone will notbe enough to keep its heritage from art dealers and smugglers. At thesame time international efforts need to be intensified. The adoption ofInternational Conventions -- as those of UNESCO and/or the UNIDROIT --will remain a necessity (African Arts 1995). Also, to arrive at durable results, research on heritage isessential. Without such research, one is unaware of what is to beprotected and how to do it. Research, especially in the fields ofdocumentation and survey, must thus be the basis of protection. Itoccupies already a significant place in the programme presented aboveand will be encouraged by all the partners. Five Ph.D projects, as wellas research on the effects of the programme on protection of theheritage, and on the construction of local and national identities, arewithin this framework. It is to be hoped that the efforts of all thepartners to ensure the success of this programme will lead to a renewedfuture vision for the fascinating past of Mali. Acknowledgements. We would like to thank our Malian counterpartsfrom the Musee National du Mali (S. Sidibe), the Institut des SciencesHumaines (K. Sanogo), the Ministere de la Culture (T. Togola and theTheatre National du Mali), the Mission Culturelle de Djenne (B. Diaby),the Mission Culturelle de Bandiagara (L. Cisse) and D. Keita for theircollaboration and commitment. For their financial and moral support weare indebted to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the RoyalDutch Embassy at Bamako. References African Arts. 1995. Protecting Mall's cultural heritage,African Arts 28(4). AFRICOM. 1996. Manuel des normes. Documentation des collectionsafricaines. Paris: ICOM. BEDAUX, R.M.A. 1986. Recherches ethno-archeologiques sur la poteriedes Dogon (Mali), in H. Fokkens, P. Banga & M. Bierma (ed.), Op zoeknaar mens en materiele cultuur: 117-46. Groningen: RijksuniversiteitGroningen. 1988. Tellem and Dogon material culture, African Arts 21: 38-45. 1991. The Tellem research project: the archaeological context, inR. Bolland, Tellem textiles; archaeological finds from burial caves inMali's Bandiagara Cliff: 14-36. 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For other uses, see UCL (disambiguation).University College London, commonly known as UCL, is the oldest multi-faculty constituent college of the University of London, one of the two original founding colleges, and the first British , Gower Street, London WC1E 6BF, England.m.rowlands@ucl.ac.uk