Heritage UndUnderder Pressure: Threats & Solutions.Sol Studies of AAgency & Soft Power in theHthe Historic EnvironmentEnvir

ed edMich Michael Dawson, Edward James & Michael Nevell Oxbow OxbowB Books Aug 2019 £38 pp336 pb isbn isb 9781789252460

This multiauthored collection draws on a 2017 Chartered Institute for Archaeologists conference on archaeology as a “global profession”. Key themes deal with confronting threats and disasters, responses to loss of cultural property in conflict, and managing heritage as the world climate changes. Writers interpret these widely, contributing to the book’s value as an introduction to a world archaeology where explanation of antiquity is not the most important goal. The survey includes, to give a few examples, achievements of the uk’s Cultural Protection Fund (due to

end, other things being equal, in March), how destruction in Syria might be properly monitored, the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, and the future of the “historic fabric” of the Troubles in Northern Ireland; there is a long article about the shocking losses during the 1990s Bosnian War. These are, as Dawson says, “real world situations”, and the relentless catalogue of damage and obstacles to progress can feel overwhelming. At the heart of it all, however, is a belief that heritage matters and will win through. Timely and important. MP