Looking Back Looking Forward: ISCCL 50th Anniversary Symposium, Abstracts and Presentations

During the past 50 years, the ISCCL has experienced great shifts in an understanding of cultural landscapes, the approaches to their conservation and protection, and the foundational concept of cultural landscapes themselves. The starting point was in 1971, in a meeting of Fontainebleau, where M. René Pechère led an international group of historic garden landscape architects and other professionals in the creation of a joint ICOMOS / IFLA Committee of Historic Gardens and Sites. While the focus of the original Committee was on classical gardens and their maintenance and protection, this was an important first step in the understanding of broader landscape issues. The Florence Charter on Historic Gardens was adopted by ICOMOS in 1982. It was ground breaking for the time, defining historic gardens as “monuments,” subject to specific rules acknowledging the “growth and decay” of a living system. However, the Charter also identified the need to preserve gardens in an “unchanged condition.” By 1992, the concept and definitions of Historic Gardens had expanded to the term “Cultural Landscapes,” approved for inclusion in the World Heritage Operational Guidelines at its 16th Session in 1992. By identifying cultural landscapes as “illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over time,” and “the combined works of nature and of man [sic]” the stage was set for the following period of inclusion of traditional and indigenous landscapes, and the nature culture dialogues, intended to integrate the identification, protection and management of natural and cultural heritage sites. This Symposium will explore those changes and more over the past 50 years in the world of cultural landscapes. Français: Au cours des 50 dernières années, le Comité a connu de grands changements dans la compréhension des paysages culturels, les approches de leur conservation et de leur protection, et le concept fondamental des paysages culturels eux-mêmes. Le point de départ fut en 1971, lors d’une réunion de Fontainebleau, où M. René Pechère dirigea un groupe international d’architectes paysagistes de jardins historiques et d’autres professionnels dans la création d’un Comité conjoint ICOMOS / IFLA des Jardins et Sites Historiques. Alors que le comité d’origine se concentrait sur les jardins classiques, leur entretien et leur protection, il s’agissait d’une première étape importante dans la compréhension des problèmes de paysage plus larges. La Charte de Florence sur les jardins historiques a été adoptée par l’ICOMOS en 1982. Elle était révolutionnaire pour l’époque, définissant les jardins historiques comme des « monuments », soumis à des règles spécifiques reconnaissant la « croissance et la décadence » d’un système vivant. Cependant, la Charte a également identifié la nécessité de préserver les jardins dans un « état inchangé ». En 1992, le concept et les définitions des jardins historiques s’étaient étendus au terme « paysages culturels », approuvé pour inclusion dans les Orientations du patrimoine mondial lors de sa 16e session en 1992. En identifiant les paysages culturels comme « illustrant l’évolution de la société humaine et peuplement au fil du temps » et « les oeuvres combinées de la nature et de l’homme [sic] », le décor était planté pour la période suivante d’inclusion des paysages traditionnels et indigènes, et les dialogues nature-culture, destinés à intégrer l’identification, la protection et la gestion de sites du patrimoine naturel et culturel. Ce symposium explorera ces changements et bien d’autres au cours des 50 dernières années dans le monde des paysages culturels. Espagnol: Durante los últimos 50 años, el Comité ha experimentado grandes cambios en la comprensión de los paisajes culturales, los enfoques para su conservación y protección, y el concepto fundamental de los paisajes culturales mismos. El punto de partida fue en 1971, en una reunión de Fontainebleau, donde M. René Pechère dirigió un grupo internacional de arquitectos paisajistas de jardines históricos y otros profesionales en la creación de un Comité conjunto ICOMOS / IFLA de Jardines y Sitios Históricos. Si bien el enfoque del Comité original estaba en los jardines clásicos y su mantenimiento y protección, este fue un primer paso importante en la comprensión de los problemas más amplios del paisaje. La Carta de Florencia sobre Jardines Históricos fue adoptada por ICOMOS en 1982. Fue innovadora para la época, definiendo los jardines históricos como “monumentos”, sujetos a reglas específicas que reconocen el “crecimiento y decadencia” de un sistema vivo. Sin embargo, la Carta también identificó la necesidad de preservar los jardines en una “condición inalterable”. Para 1992, el concepto y las definiciones de Jardines Históricos se habían expandido al término “Paisajes Culturales”, aprobado para su inclusión en las Directrices Operativas del Patrimonio Mundial en su 16ª Sesión en 1992. Al identificar los paisajes culturales como “ilustrativos de la evolución de la sociedad humana y asentamiento a lo largo del tiempo”, y “las obras combinadas de la naturaleza y del hombre [sic]”, se preparó el escenario para el siguiente período de inclusión de los paisajes tradicionales e indígenas, y los diálogos naturaleza-cultura, destinados a integrar la identificación, protección y gestión de los sitios del patrimonio natural y cultural. Este Simposio explorará esos cambios y más en los últimos 50 años en el mundo de los paisajes culturales

KC 4.4 Building Multi-cultural Understanding Through Translation and Dialogue: Languages and terminologies for ICOMOS IFLA ISCCL Rural Landscapes Principles

The spread and put in action of the Principles’ text in the national context require, first of all, the translation of the original English version. It is not automatic and requires different considerations and challenges (as linguistic and cultural). For instance, some English terms have no known equivalent Arabic terms (such as landscape, vernacular and integrity), other terms have different equivalents used by different individuals or institutions, others (as bio-cultural diversity, conservation, heritage, sustainable development) require some specifications due to differences in worldview and value systems in the different national contexts (and according to different disciplinary sectors in the same national context). The Knowledge Cafe would encourage a multi-cultural discussion on building shared understanding of the issues and challenges regarding the translation and terminology. It will be organized as follows: Raffaella Laviscio will briefly introduce the topic and present, as responsible for the Italian translation, the challenges that arise from this particular context such as the need for a multidisciplinary approach (as required by the principles’ text) that clashes in Italy with a certain sectoriality of competences concerning rural landscape. Hossam Mahdy and Khalid El Harrouni, responsible for the Arabic translation, reflect on the challenges concerning Arabic terms for conservation-related concepts, methods and actions due to differences in worldview and value systems between traditional Arabic-speaking communities and modern Western/Westernized worldviews and value systems. Haeedeh Lahed and Gity Homa Irani Behbahani give some notes concerning the Middle East and the Iranian World. Li Xie and Hang Lu join the discussion by reflections concerning Chinese translation of the Principles’ Text. The open discussion will be guided by some questions: how do different contexts define and interpret words like landscape, rural landscape, heritage and so on? what is the scope of the Principles’ text that the different national socio-economic conditions define? what are the links with other sectors, policies and emerging themes in the national contexts that must necessarily be highlighted? The goal will be to gather as many diverse suggestions from around the globe on which key words may need to have local linguistic interpretations so that the text can be interpreted most appropriately for local use and to the further revision and implementation of the Principles\u27 text on a world scale

Exceptional ancient DNA preservation and fibre remains of a Sasanian saltmine sheep mummy in Chehrābād, Iran

Funder: FP7 Ideas: European Research Council; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011199; Grant(s): 295729-CodeXMummified remains have long attracted interest as a potential source of ancient DNA. However, mummification is a rare process that requires an anhydrous environment to rapidly dehydrate and preserve tissue before complete decomposition occurs. We present the whole-genome sequences (3.94 X) of an approximately 1600-year-old naturally mummified sheep recovered from Chehrābād, a salt mine in northwestern Iran. Comparative analyses of published ancient sequences revealed the remarkable DNA integrity of this mummy. Hallmarks of postmortem damage, fragmentation and hydrolytic deamination are substantially reduced, likely owing to the high salinity of this taphonomic environment. Metagenomic analyses reflect the profound influence of high-salt content on decomposition; its microbial profile is predominated by halophilic archaea and bacteria, possibly contributing to the remarkable preservation of the sample. Applying population genomic analyses, we find clustering of this sheep with Southwest Asian modern breeds, suggesting ancestry continuity. Genotyping of a locus influencing the woolly phenotype showed the presence of an ancestral ‘hairy’ allele, consistent with hair fibre imaging. This, along with derived alleles associated with the fat-tail phenotype, provides genetic evidence that Sasanian-period Iranians maintained specialized sheep flocks for different uses, with the ‘hairy’, ‘fat-tailed’-genotyped sheep likely kept by the rural community of Chehrābād's miners

Les arcs brisés persans : remarques sur leurs particularités géométriques et techniques

The study focuses on the arches of the domed halls erected during the Saldjukid period inside of the big mosques, in the part reserved to the sovereign’s use. The author analyses the methods and technics used to trace and build these arches which reveal a great mastery of applied mathematics on the part of the architects and which, beyond their function, possess a distinguished decorative value.Laleh Haeedeh. Les arcs brisés persans : remarques sur leurs particularités géométriques et techniques. In: Histoire de l'art, N°11, 1990. Varia. pp. 3-13

Tracking five millennia of horse management with extensive ancient genome time series

Horse domestication revolutionized warfare and accelerated travel, trade, and the geographic expansion of languages. Here, we present the largest DNA time series for a non-human organism to date, including genome-scale data from 149 ancient animals and 129 ancient genomes (≥1-fold coverage), 87 of which are new. This extensive dataset allows us to assess the modern legacy of past equestrian civilizations. We find that two extinct horse lineages existed during early domestication, one at the far western (Iberia) and the other at the far eastern range (Siberia) of Eurasia. None of these contributed significantly to modern diversity. We show that the influence of Persian-related horse lineages increased following the Islamic conquests in Europe and Asia. Multiple alleles associated with elite-racing, including at the MSTN "speed gene," only rose in popularity within the last millennium. Finally, the development of modern breeding impacted genetic diversity more dramatically than the previous millennia of human management.T.M.-B. was supported by the BFU2017-86471-P (MINECO/FEDER, UE), the U01 MH106874 grant, Howard Hughes International Early Career, Obra Social “La Caixa,” and Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca del Departament d’Economia i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya. V.P. was supported by Russian Science Foundation (16-18-10265). This research received support from the SYNTHESYS Project (http://www.synthesys.info/), which is financed by European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the Seventh Framework “Capacities” Programme. This work was supported by the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF94), the Initiative d’Excellence Chaires d’attractivité, Université de Toulouse (OURASI), the International Highly Cited Research Group Program (HCRC#15-101), Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University, the Villum Fonden miGENEPI research project, the Swiss National Science Foundation (CR13I1_140638), the Research Council of Norway (project 230821/F20); the investigation grant HAR2016-77600-P, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain, and the National Science Foundation (ANS-1417036). This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement 681605)