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Since its
foundation, the Albanian Rescue Archaeology Unit has set forward a
number of goals which have provided the guidelines of its activity.
They include:
Rescue Unit and the Albanian Archaeological Community
The Unit not only is an integral part of the archaeological
community in the country, but also tries to play a role in its
expansion, effectiveness and dynamism. Our goal is to make the Unit
a reference point of the community as a whole and a factor of its
cohesion.
Rescue Unit and the Albanian Archaeological Institutions
The Unit plans and develops its activity in close collaboration with
the archaeological authorities and institutions in the country. The
major partner, however, is the Institute of Archaeology as the only
governmental institution authorized to carry out archaeological work
in Albania. The collaboration is planned and carried out on the
basis of projects.
Rescue Unit and the standards of the archaeological practice in
the country
The Unit during its activity not only follows the scientific
standards set by the Institute of Archaeology for the practice of
archaeological fieldwork in Albania, but also gives its contribution
towards bringing these standards up to date. Particularly, we
believe that the Unit has much to contribute in the stratigraphical
excavation in urban context, single context planning, data
recording, and post-excavation data managing and storing.
Rescue Unit and the legal framework of the archaeological
practice in Albania
The Unit complies with the cultural heritage law of the Republic of
Albania. As part of the civil society, however, the Unit tries to
give its modest contribution in the process of formulation of the
new cultural heritage law, based on its fieldwork experience and
that of other similar European organizations.
Rescue Unit and the development of the country: major
infrastructure projects
The major infrastructure and other public projects, which are the
priority of the general development of Albania, have a great impact
on the archaeological heritage of the country. For this reason they
are the focus of the Unit’s activity. After gaining all the
information on such major projects in the country, the Unit tries to
establish close contacts with local and international bodies (World
Bank, European Community Office, European Development Fund, Ministry
of Public Works, Ministry of Transports, National Environmental
Agency, and so on), and makes them aware of the importance of the
archaeological investigations prior to the development work.
Following the EU norms and regulations, the Unit tries to press on
the bodies that are actually financing the projects to support the
archaeological work of the Unit, showing that it (the Unit) is
capable of carrying out good quality, effective and fast job in
collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology.
Rescue Unit and the education system: the archaeology students
and young professionals
As has been already mentioned above, the Unit is an integral part of
the Albanian archaeological community. However it is particularly
supportive to the students and young archaeologists, not only by
offering its equipment and laboratory facilities, but also by
involving them in almost all fieldwork projects. In collaboration
with foreign teams working in Albania (British at Butrint, Americans
in Apollonia, French in Apollonia and Sovjan, etc.) the Unit tries
to create the necessary conditions for setting up real field-schools
for the archaeology students.
Rescue Unit and the general public
One of the priorities of the Unit’s activity is certainly its open
relation with the general public. We use all forms of communication
(electronic, internet, newspaper articles, small publications,
seminars, and so on) not only to make known the activity of the
Unit, but also to make the general public aware of the
archaeological values and their place and role in the future
development of the country.
Rescue Unit and the national archaeological heritage archive
Another important direction of the Unit’s activity and a major
investment of its efforts and resources is the creation of an
electronic archive which will build up with time, project after
project. Our goal is to set up an open archiving system that can
serve to anybody interested, and most important, that is structured
in a way that can be easy to use for future research and reference.
On the other hand, the electronic archive of the Unit will follow
some basic standards of the National Registry Office of the Cultural
Heritage, and will be as similar to the archiving system of the
Institute of Archaeology, as possible, so that there is no isolated
and fragmentary systems in a national level.
Rescue Unit and the publication
The whole activity of the Unit, we think, should be reflected not
only in the fieldwork, but also in different publications. Again,
the Unit’s publications are not limited to excavation reports, but
include scholarly writings and articles for peer reviewed journals,
and monographs in the future. The Unit keeps close ties with
journals like Iliria of the Institute of Archaeology. |
