Advances in Sustainable Conservation Practices in Rupestrian Settlements Inscribed in the UNESCO's World Heritage List

Margottini, Claudio; Gigli, Giovanni; Rüther, Heinz; Spizzichino, Daniele

doi:10.1016/j.proeps.2016.10.006

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Thin section study, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and SEM-EDS mineral composition of samples from seven rock-hewn churches (Biet Medhane-Alem, Biet Mariam, Trinity Church, Biet Giyorgis, Biet Emanuel, Biet Abba-Lebanos and Biet Gabriel/Rufael) were carried out. These investigations showed that the churches were carved in hydrothermally-altered and nearly aphyric vesicular basalts with incipient lateritization (Ruther et al 2014). This is in contrast to the earlier literature on Lalibela which often reports the rock-hewn churches as being carved into "weathered basic tuffs".…”

Section: Mineralogy and Petrographymentioning

confidence: 61%

“…For the Siq survey, the scanner was positioned on the Siq floor at intervals of not more than 10 meters (Ruther et al 2014). The lower wall areas over the entire length of the Siq were thus captured up to a height varying from 20 to 80 m, depending on visibility (Fig.…”

Section: The Siq Of Petramentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During some 3 million years, humankind survival relied on two basic activities: hunting (or fishing) and gathering edible items (from plants to insects). A radical change came roughly 10,000 years ago, after the last glacial age, when people first learned to cultivate crops and to domesticate animals, in what can certainly be considered one of the most significant developments in human history (Margottini and Spizzichino 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rupestrian World Heritage Sites: Instability Investigation and Sustainable Mitigation

Margottini

Bobrowsky

Gigli

et al. 2017

Advancing Culture of Living With Landslides

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Rupestrian settlements were among the first man-made works in the history of humanity. The most relevant masterpieces of such human history have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. These sites and their associated remains are not always in equilibrium with the environment. They are continuously impacted and weathered by a variety of internal and external factors, both natural and human-induced, with rapid and/or slow onset. These include major sudden natural hazards, such as earthquakes or extreme meteorological events, but also slow cumulative processes such as the erosion of rocks, compounded by the effects of climate change, as well as the role of humans, especially in conflict situations. Many rupestrian sites have been carved into soft rock, generally with UCS < 25 MPa (ISRM in Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abs 18:85-110, 1981), in vertical cliffs, and show major conservation issues in the domain of rock slope stability and rock weathering. This paper reports the experience of rock fall mitigation in rupestrian sites, mainly from the UNESCO World Heritage List (Bamiyan in Afghanistan; Lalibela in Ethiopia; Petra in Jordan, Vardzia in Georgia and others). The general approach, implemented in the activities, includes a very detailed interdisciplinary study, with the objective to understand degradation processes and causative factors, followed, as a subsequent step, by proper field conservation work. The latter is mainly related to re-discovering and potential application of traditional knowledge and sustainable practices, and is primarily based on local conservation techniques.

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Section: Mineralogy and Petrographymentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: The Siq Of Petramentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rupestrian World Heritage Sites: Instability Investigation and Sustainable Mitigation

Margottini

Bobrowsky

Gigli

et al. 2017

Advancing Culture of Living With Landslides

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“…Ravankhah et al (2019) included landslides in a number of identified geological hazards, that may influence a site on the Greek Island of Crete in a changing climate. Furthermore, many heritage rupestrian sites, such as the WHS of Petra in Jordan, are carved in cliffs and are inevitably exposed to slope instability and rockfall, in addition to the ubiquitous weathering of the rocks (Margottini et al, 2016); nonetheless, potential future changes in rockfall hazards due to climate change have yet to be investigated in this case.…”

Section: Impact From Changes In the Natural Physical Environment On Cultural Heritagementioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change impacts on cultural heritage: A literature review

Sesana

Gagnon

Ciantelli

et al. 2021

WIREs Climate Change

236

111

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Climate change, as revealed by gradual changes in temperature, precipitation, atmospheric moisture, and wind intensity, as well as sea level rise and changes in the occurrence of extreme events, is already affecting cultural heritage sites. Accordingly, there is a rapidly increasing body of research reporting on the impacts of climatic stressors on cultural heritage and on the assessment of climate change impacts on cultural heritage assets. This review synthesizes the international literature on climate change impacts on tangible cultural heritage by developing hazard‐impact diagrams focusing on the impacts of gradual changes in climate on: (1) the cultural heritage exposed to the outside environment, (2) the interiors of historical buildings and their collections, and (3) a third diagram associated with climate change and the impacts due to sudden changes in the natural physical environment (e.g., storm surges, floods and landslides, wildfire) in addition to sea level rise, permafrost thawing, desertification and changes in the properties of the oceans. These diagrams, which depict the relationships between various stressors and their impacts on cultural heritage, will allow other researchers, stakeholders, and potentially decision makers to determine the potential impacts of climate change on a specific cultural heritage asset without a separate examination of the literature. This review thus provides the current state‐of‐the‐art on the impacts of climate change on the tangible, built heritage, that is, monuments, archeological sites, historical buildings, as well as their interiors and the collections they hold, highlights the limitations of previous research, and provides recommendations for further studies. This article is categorized under: Assessing Impacts of Climate Change > Evaluating Future Impacts of Climate Change

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“…TCH is often at risk from natural hazards (fires, earthquakes, landslides, flooding, tropical storms) and man-made disasters (destructive sabotage, war), while further damage can arise from the instability of the structures and the fragility of the involved stone materials [1][2][3]. Amongst the latter, volcanic rocks such as tuffs, thanks to their softness and excellent carvability, represent one of the most widely adopted building materials and excavated lithology for rupestrian settlements in the history of man [4,5]. The peculiar lithological and geotechnical characteristics of this material (highly heterogeneous fabric with abundant ash matrix, easily transformable into alteration minerals, such as clays and zeolites), causes weathering and deterioration issues due to moisture and humidity, which in rock masses exposed to rainfall-runoff and infiltration, can create slope instability and the structural collapse of rock-hewn structures (e.g., caves, chapels), representing serious constraints to the future conservation of the sites and the safety of the visitors [6][7][8][9][10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining InfraRed Thermography and UAV Digital Photogrammetry for the Protection and Conservation of Rupestrian Cultural Heritage Sites in Georgia: A Methodological Application

et al. 2020

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The rock-cut city of Vardzia is an example of the extraordinary rupestrian cultural heritage of Georgia. The site, Byzantine in age, was carved in the steep tuff slopes of the Erusheti mountains, and due to its peculiar geological characteristics, it is particularly vulnerable to weathering and degradation, as well as frequent instability phenomena. These problems determine serious constraints on the future conservation of the site, as well as the safety of the visitors. This paper focuses on the implementation of a site-specific methodology, based on the integration of advanced remote sensing techniques, such as InfraRed Thermography (IRT) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based Digital Photogrammetry (DP), with traditional field surveys and laboratory analyses, with the aim of mapping the potential criticality of the rupestrian complex on a slope scale. The adopted methodology proved to be a useful tool for the detection of areas of weathering and degradation on the tuff cliffs, such as moisture and seepage sectors related to the ephemeral drainage network of the slope. These insights provided valuable support for the design and implementation of sustainable mitigation works, to be profitably used in the management plan of the site of Vardzia, and can be used for the protection and conservation of rupestrian cultural heritage sites characterized by similar geological contexts.

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Advances in Sustainable Conservation Practices in Rupestrian Settlements Inscribed in the UNESCO's World Heritage List

Cited by 11 publications

References 7 publications

Rupestrian World Heritage Sites: Instability Investigation and Sustainable Mitigation

Rupestrian World Heritage Sites: Instability Investigation and Sustainable Mitigation

Climate change impacts on cultural heritage: A literature review

Combining InfraRed Thermography and UAV Digital Photogrammetry for the Protection and Conservation of Rupestrian Cultural Heritage Sites in Georgia: A Methodological Application

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