Implementation strategies

The next stage of the training course (and the plan) was step 6, the management strategies—those actual, on-site steps through which the management policy would be put into action. Once again it was important to understand the holistic nature of the exercise. Provision for a range of strategies was necessary to ensure the ongoing preservation of the site.

A range of strategies was explored and suggested by participants. These included elements such as

Ongoing documentation, assessment and research; maintenance and updating of records;

•  physical protection of site boundaries;

•  controlling impinging development and local atmospheric and other environmental problems;

•  regeneration and creation of a wider buffer zone;

•  regulation, control, and direction of research;

•  salvage procedures, and methods for ensuring that work on the site did not affect the significant site fabric;

•  curating movable artifacts; and

•  arranging for ongoing consultation with and involvement of particular key people and groups.

The course placed special emphasis on maintenance, conservation, and visitor-management strategies as being the most fundamental and useful. The physical conservation strategies suggested were the subject of intense debate. A key question here (as elsewhere) was the extent of intervention required or desirable, the necessity for research to establish the nature of the problem, and the potential results of intervention.

The development of maintenance and visitor-management strategies perhaps most dramatically demonstrated the effect that site managers could have on site preservation through relatively simple practices. Simple maintenance measures—such as keeping doors and windows of protective structures maintained and shut, keeping dust levels down, removing vegetation where appropriate, and closely supervising outside workers on-site—all emerged as equally, if not more, important in terms of preservation as some of the more elaborate and costly proposals for physical conservation.

Figure 1 The step-by-step process followed during the site-management training course at Dunhuang (after Kerr 1985).

Planning Process for the Conservation of Archaeological Sites

Step 1

Location and documentation of the site or sites

•  survey

•  inventory

•  historical and archaeological record

•  graphic archive

Step 5

Defining the management policy

• statement of purpose and set of principles or policies based on assessments

Why is this site going to be managed?

Step 6

Choosing the management strategies

• specific practices

How will the management objective be put into practice?

Figure 2

The observation strategy used by course participants.

Observers

Yungang Grottoes Visitor Observation

In groups of three:

•  one person recording information

•  one person giving information

•  one person walking around observing

At  Caves 5 and 6, during a specific time period.

Observations

Are people smoking near or inside the building?

If so, how many?

Are people touching the structure?

If so, how many?

In what places?

How long does the visitor stay inside the structure (and cave)?

Do people go into both Caves 5 and 6, or do they tend to go into just one? Note the length of time of your observation.

Keep a count of the number of visitors you observe.

Figure 3

The script employed for surveying visitors to the grottoes.

Yungang Grottoes Visitor Survey

Hello! (Wear your name tag and introduce yourself.)

We are doing a survey of our visitors. Could we ask you a few questions? This will take only a few minutes, and your answers will help us in managing this site.

1.  Where do you come from?

2.  What kind of work do you do?

3.  We are interested to know why you are visiting Yungang:

•  family holiday

•  business/conference

•  group visit/work unit

•  other

4.  How did you first learn about the Yungang grottoes?

•  school • friend

•  travel agency • local knowledge

•  tourist guidebook/map • other

5.  Have you visited other grotto sites? If so, which ones?

6.  Is this your first visit here? If no, how many times have you been here?

7.  Which part of the site interested you most?

Which part was least interesting? Why?

Which caves do you think are most important?

8.  Did you know that there is a Ming-dynasty fortress above the grottoes?

9.  Are you satisfied with the facilities for the visitors (e. g., restrooms, souvenirs, etc.)?

10.  Would you like to have learned more from your visit? What?

11.  In your opinion, was the cost of your ticket appropriate?

Would you be willing to pay more for a ticket?

12.  In your opinion, is the site well cared for?

Do you have any suggestions for improvement?

13.  May I ask you what age group you fit into?

15-25 26-40 41-55 55 +

Thank you very much for your time. The information you have given us will be very valuable to our work.

The visitor observation and survey exercise

The value of simple techniques was made even more dramatically clear through the work the participants did in the area of visitor management. On the first Sunday of the course (Sunday being the busiest day at the site for visitors), they designed and carried out a visitor observation and survey exercise. A group of participants observed visitors at certain grottoes and made notes about their behavior in accordance with instructions previously formulated with the lecturers (Fig. 2).

At the same time, other participants conducted their first-ever visitor survey (Fig. 3), interviewing some ninety visitors on-site, with the help of interpreters, as needed. There was some concern about whether the visitors would receive such questioning with equanimity. As it turned out,

However, both participants and visitors enjoyed the experience greatly. According to student reports, the visitors appeared to appreciate the fact that the site managers were interested in their opinions and in improving management. The visitor studies were based on the work of Fay Gale at Australian Aboriginal art sites for the Australian Heritage Commission (Gale and Jacobs 1987). The results of the work are too numerous to detail here; however, a number of key points emerged that are very relevant to principles of management generally, as follows:

When considering the general problems of site management, participants were overwhelmed by the immense problems of gradual and relentless physical deterioration, due to natural causes, which the managers of the sites have been battling from the beginning. These problems are grave and inevitable; and they deserve attention. However, as Stephen Rickerby points out elsewhere in this volume, the deterioration is often much more gradual than it would at first appear.

In contrast, the effect of poorly behaved visitors can be catastrophic in a short time. The participants found this from their unobtrusive observations of visitors on-site. In particular, a group of young boys spent the afternoon roaming through the site, and when they thought they were unobserved, climbed up on the large painted statues, sat in their laps, and scratched them with their feet. This seemed to be a regular occupation, as the boys were searching for money left as offerings. The clearly observable fact was that the boys, in one afternoon, were able to do more damage to these figures than ten or perhaps a hundred years of natural weathering.

This and other visitor-management problems were not the result of neglect or negligence. They simply required systematic observation on the part of managers and the consequent application of suitable management measures. The participants readily suggested solutions that were relatively simple, inexpensive, and low-tech, yet impressive in terms of the long-term preservation of the site. Similarly, observation of visitor-flow patterns resulted in a greatly enhanced design for a system of visitor management.

In the same way, by means of the visitor survey, the participants gained extensive information about the origins, expectations, and views of visitors, who were not at all reluctant about voicing their opinions and making suggestions for improvements. The survey assisted immensely in designing a visitor and interpretative strategy. Had the participants attempted to design these without such a survey, they would certainly have made some significant mistakes. For example, visitors showed a strong desire for on-site information and interpretation, for more guided tours, and for better facilities. Equally important, they stated that they would be willing to pay more for these services.