Training, Partnerships, and New Methodologies for Protecting Libya’s Cultural Heritage

The article reports on two initiatives aimed at helping Libyan heritage professionals better protect Libya’s cultural heritage in a time of massively increased threats. The “LAaR: Libyan Antiquities at Risk” project involves the illicit trade in portable heritage. It has focused on the development of a database of distinctively Libyan cultural artefacts, so that the provenance of similar items which appear on the antiquities market can be identified as Libyan. The project has also attempted to foster networks and discussion among a range of stakeholders, including police engaged in investigating illicit trade, customs agencies, museum professionals, antiquities dealers, academics, and Libyan archaeologists. The “Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa” (EAMENA) project has a different main focus, relating to the mapping, recording and monitoring of archaeological sites across multiple MENA countries, including Libya. It is hoped that the tools for remote mapping and interpretation will prove useful in capacity building in Libya’s antiquities service and that the database structure that we have developed can be of use to Libya in developing the next stage of a national record of heritage assets and in monitoring threats and damage.