Archaeotourism or Archaeological tourism is a form of cultural tourism, which aims to promote public interest in

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

and the conservation of historical sites.

Activities

Archaeological tourism can include all products associated with public archaeological promotion, including visits to

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

s, interpretation centers, reenactments of historical occurrences, and the rediscovery of

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

products,

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...

s, or

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

Impact

Archaeological tourism walks a fine line between promoting archaeological sites and an area's cultural heritage and causing more damage to them, thus becoming invasive tourism. Archaeologists have expressed concerns that tourism encourages particular ways of seeing and knowing the past. When archaeological sites are run by tourist boards, ticket fees and souvenir revenues can become a priority, and the question remains whether a site is worth opening to the public or remaining closed and keeping the site out of harm's way. Damage to irreplaceable archaeological materials is not only direct, as when remains are disordered, altered, destroyed, or looted, but often the indirect result of poorly planned development of tourism amenities, such as hotels, restaurants, roads, and shops. These can drastically alter the environment in ways that produce flooding, landslides, or undermine ancient structures..

Notable sites

* In Oman the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, sponsored a project at the village of Imti with artist Maryam Al Zadjali, entitled “To Immortalise the Archaeological Moment in Art”. The project encouraged tourism to the village, through the installation of artistic interventions such as wall-paintings.

References

External links sites

ArqueotuR
(2010) Institutional network for the promotion of archaeological tourism and local development. Co-ordinated by the University of Barcelona.
The AIA-ATTA Guide To Best Practices For Archaeological Tourism
{{Tourism Cultural tourism Public archaeology Types of tourism