Museums and Geoconservation
While museums have long been associated with the protection and interpretation of cultural, historical, and natural heritage, their role in geoconservation has only become more prominent in recent decades. Geoconservation focuses on the conservation of geological features, processes, and landscapes...
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OICC Press
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Geoconservation Research |
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While museums have long been associated with the protection and interpretation of cultural, historical, and natural heritage, their role in geoconservation has only become more prominent in recent decades. Geoconservation focuses on the conservation of geological features, processes, and landscapes, and has gained recognition as an important area of environmental protection, particularly in the context of climate change and anthropogenic pressures on natural resources. Importantly, geoconservation is based on the fundamental scientific evaluation of those locations, such as open landscapes, coastlines, and quarries in terms of their regional and international significance.
Therefore, there are two roles for museums in connection with geoconservation, namely scientific and educational. Museums promote geoconservation through their collections, exhibitions, research, and public outreach. Different papers in the volume address questions of proper collecting practice and making links from the conserved geological sites to the curated collections in a museum, largely in the context of their scientific worth. Collecting on the land can be a fraught topic in the context of moving specimens from place to place, especially in moving them from one nation to another. What was once done without thought is now an important area of ethical debate. Such considerations are important also in education, where the choice of language and terminology can matter. Further, museums, like geoparks, rely on the support of visitors and it is important for all audiences to be considered in planning the educational and engagement activities in museums and integrating with nearby geosites. Partnerships between museums and geosites can present benefits for both.
Papers in the Special Issue
We publish 11 papers in this Special Issue, addressing different topics in the relationship of museums with geoconservation sites and objectives. Our authors come from many countries (UK, Germany, France, Morocco, Australia, and China) and reflect specific examples from each of these nations.
In two articles, the authors explore practical, legal, and ethical issues between geological sites and museums. Van Geert (2024) compares the presentation of geology in geopark museums and natural history museums, focusing on the French and Spanish Catalan region of Europe. He notes how the expansion of the geoheritage concept has led to profound changes in museums and the wider heritage sector as these institutions adapt to strengthening the link between natural and cultural heritage. He also sees real impacts from increasing awareness among professionals and the public for issues associated with decolonization issues and the climate crisis.
In their paper, Reedman et al. (2024) explore fossil collecting along parts of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site. Fossil collecting is managed through codes of conduct rather than laws. The codes operate on rapidly eroding coastlines where fossils may be found at any time and if they are not collected might be lost to erosion. This makes it impractical to mandate official collecting by licensed authorities only because they do not have the time to monitor many kilometers of coastline every few days. On the other hand, the hundreds of thousands of visitors could cause great harm by over-collecting and dispersing the fossils. A balance is struck, whereby visitors may collect common fossils such as ammonites, but are encouraged to report any particularly impressive specimens or marine reptile bones. It is unknown how many remarkable fossils are removed without being recorded, but sufficient specimens are recorded by the local museums along the coast that the authors conclude the codes of good practice are at least substantially effective.
Two papers, respectively from the UK and Australia, explore issues of decolonization and current issues between occupants of the land. Gelsthorpe (2024) provides a thoughtful consideration of decolonization as it affects a museum, in his case the Manchester Museum, that acquired specimens from all over the world in times when few questions were asked about ethical matters. He argues that ‘the repatriation of geological specimens can be regarded as a barometer of the progress of decolonization’. He provides an example of how the Manchester Museum returned a Cretaceous fossil bird specimen that had been purchased illegally to China and uses this as a wake-up call to encourage other museums to be proactive in contacting authorities in other nations to offer the return of specimens.
Hurst et al. (2024) explore live situations in Australia where scientists and museums have up to now often ignored the wishes and interests of the First Nations peoples. They note that museums in Australia, and more widely, exhibit numerous examples of First Nations art, and ethical considerations about how those artifacts were obtained and how they are exhibited and explained can be enormous. There are also major concerns ignored to a large extent hitherto about the land throughout Australia and how we approach and talk about it. Every geological site is on the ancestral lands of a First Nations group, and Hurst et al. present ideas about proper engagement between Western-trained scientists and First Nations peoples. Sally Hurst pioneered an engagement scheme throughout Australia called ‘Found a Fossil’ survey, and the authors present results and examples of further outcomes between museums and geosites concerning dinosaur tracks, stone tools, and a film project that have brought together disparate interests and cultures around important geological themes.
We then present five articles that provide examples of different means of illustrating and disseminating information about geosites through museums. El Hamidy et al. (2024) show the National Ceramics Museum in Safi, Morocco (NCMSM) helps to promote geotourism and protect geosites through a variety of activities, including geosite visits, educational programs, interpretive panels, geotours, awareness campaigns, souvenir offers, and interactive applications. Lincoln and Colley (2024) provide an account of how a small geological museum in northern England, the Kendal Museum, used stories around some ‘local heroes’ to interest the local people and visitors in how geologists work and to make connections from the museum displays to local geosites that tourists can visit. In a similar way, Munt (2024) reports the history of a newer museum, the Dinosaur Isle Museum on the Isle of Wight, southern England, founded in 2001, and how it exhibits dinosaur fossils all found within at most a few kilometers of the museum. He argues that place is important in the location of this museum, allowing visitors and local people to realize the remarkable specimens on show are very local to the museum itself, and inspiring some at least to walk or drive on to see some of the original find spots of dinosaur skeletons and footprints. The fourth case study is from the IVPP museum in Beijing, China, where Wang et al. (2024) present a detailed account of the great wall murals that act as a backdrop to the collections on all three floors of the galleries. They show how they are a good representation of the state of knowledge of Chinese palaeontology in the early 1990s, and how the life restorations of animals can help visitors interpret the fossils they see in front of them and connect those back to the sites from which they came, many of them now incorporated into geoparks that are open to visitors. Finally, in this section, Schütrumpf et al. (2024) describe the ‘Ask a Geologist’ service at the Warwick Market Hall Museum in central England, where staff of the museum and volunteers from the county geoconservation group meet the public to answer questions and identify rocks and fossils.
The final two articles are about one of the longest-studied geological areas in the world, the Dorset coast in southern England. Davis (2024) describes the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival which has happened each year since 2005, attracting 15–20,000 people each time to the variety of stalls, scientific lectures, circus shows, and other events designed to link people to the geology and palaeontology and especially the geoconservation aspects of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage site. It all began with Mary Anning (1799–1847), and Pearson (2024) presents an evocative account of her involvement in the campaign to establish a statue in honor of the great fossil collector. In particular, she describes how Mary Anning has become a hero worldwide for her contributions and acts as an inspiration for young people, especially girls, to become scientists, but also to take an interest in geology, palaeontology, and geoconservation.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0b283e34c9314f8c9af069713f3fb63f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2645-4661 2588-7343 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | OICC Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geoconservation Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-0b283e34c9314f8c9af069713f3fb63f2024-12-14T11:15:10ZengOICC PressGeoconservation Research2645-46612588-73432024-12-017210.57647/gcr-2024-si-b330Museums and GeoconservationMichael J. Benton0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4323-1824Sarah King1School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, UKYorkshire Museum, Museum Gardens, Museum Street, York YO1 7FR, UK While museums have long been associated with the protection and interpretation of cultural, historical, and natural heritage, their role in geoconservation has only become more prominent in recent decades. Geoconservation focuses on the conservation of geological features, processes, and landscapes, and has gained recognition as an important area of environmental protection, particularly in the context of climate change and anthropogenic pressures on natural resources. Importantly, geoconservation is based on the fundamental scientific evaluation of those locations, such as open landscapes, coastlines, and quarries in terms of their regional and international significance. Therefore, there are two roles for museums in connection with geoconservation, namely scientific and educational. Museums promote geoconservation through their collections, exhibitions, research, and public outreach. Different papers in the volume address questions of proper collecting practice and making links from the conserved geological sites to the curated collections in a museum, largely in the context of their scientific worth. Collecting on the land can be a fraught topic in the context of moving specimens from place to place, especially in moving them from one nation to another. What was once done without thought is now an important area of ethical debate. Such considerations are important also in education, where the choice of language and terminology can matter. Further, museums, like geoparks, rely on the support of visitors and it is important for all audiences to be considered in planning the educational and engagement activities in museums and integrating with nearby geosites. Partnerships between museums and geosites can present benefits for both. Papers in the Special Issue We publish 11 papers in this Special Issue, addressing different topics in the relationship of museums with geoconservation sites and objectives. Our authors come from many countries (UK, Germany, France, Morocco, Australia, and China) and reflect specific examples from each of these nations. In two articles, the authors explore practical, legal, and ethical issues between geological sites and museums. Van Geert (2024) compares the presentation of geology in geopark museums and natural history museums, focusing on the French and Spanish Catalan region of Europe. He notes how the expansion of the geoheritage concept has led to profound changes in museums and the wider heritage sector as these institutions adapt to strengthening the link between natural and cultural heritage. He also sees real impacts from increasing awareness among professionals and the public for issues associated with decolonization issues and the climate crisis. In their paper, Reedman et al. (2024) explore fossil collecting along parts of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site. Fossil collecting is managed through codes of conduct rather than laws. The codes operate on rapidly eroding coastlines where fossils may be found at any time and if they are not collected might be lost to erosion. This makes it impractical to mandate official collecting by licensed authorities only because they do not have the time to monitor many kilometers of coastline every few days. On the other hand, the hundreds of thousands of visitors could cause great harm by over-collecting and dispersing the fossils. A balance is struck, whereby visitors may collect common fossils such as ammonites, but are encouraged to report any particularly impressive specimens or marine reptile bones. It is unknown how many remarkable fossils are removed without being recorded, but sufficient specimens are recorded by the local museums along the coast that the authors conclude the codes of good practice are at least substantially effective. Two papers, respectively from the UK and Australia, explore issues of decolonization and current issues between occupants of the land. Gelsthorpe (2024) provides a thoughtful consideration of decolonization as it affects a museum, in his case the Manchester Museum, that acquired specimens from all over the world in times when few questions were asked about ethical matters. He argues that ‘the repatriation of geological specimens can be regarded as a barometer of the progress of decolonization’. He provides an example of how the Manchester Museum returned a Cretaceous fossil bird specimen that had been purchased illegally to China and uses this as a wake-up call to encourage other museums to be proactive in contacting authorities in other nations to offer the return of specimens. Hurst et al. (2024) explore live situations in Australia where scientists and museums have up to now often ignored the wishes and interests of the First Nations peoples. They note that museums in Australia, and more widely, exhibit numerous examples of First Nations art, and ethical considerations about how those artifacts were obtained and how they are exhibited and explained can be enormous. There are also major concerns ignored to a large extent hitherto about the land throughout Australia and how we approach and talk about it. Every geological site is on the ancestral lands of a First Nations group, and Hurst et al. present ideas about proper engagement between Western-trained scientists and First Nations peoples. Sally Hurst pioneered an engagement scheme throughout Australia called ‘Found a Fossil’ survey, and the authors present results and examples of further outcomes between museums and geosites concerning dinosaur tracks, stone tools, and a film project that have brought together disparate interests and cultures around important geological themes. We then present five articles that provide examples of different means of illustrating and disseminating information about geosites through museums. El Hamidy et al. (2024) show the National Ceramics Museum in Safi, Morocco (NCMSM) helps to promote geotourism and protect geosites through a variety of activities, including geosite visits, educational programs, interpretive panels, geotours, awareness campaigns, souvenir offers, and interactive applications. Lincoln and Colley (2024) provide an account of how a small geological museum in northern England, the Kendal Museum, used stories around some ‘local heroes’ to interest the local people and visitors in how geologists work and to make connections from the museum displays to local geosites that tourists can visit. In a similar way, Munt (2024) reports the history of a newer museum, the Dinosaur Isle Museum on the Isle of Wight, southern England, founded in 2001, and how it exhibits dinosaur fossils all found within at most a few kilometers of the museum. He argues that place is important in the location of this museum, allowing visitors and local people to realize the remarkable specimens on show are very local to the museum itself, and inspiring some at least to walk or drive on to see some of the original find spots of dinosaur skeletons and footprints. The fourth case study is from the IVPP museum in Beijing, China, where Wang et al. (2024) present a detailed account of the great wall murals that act as a backdrop to the collections on all three floors of the galleries. They show how they are a good representation of the state of knowledge of Chinese palaeontology in the early 1990s, and how the life restorations of animals can help visitors interpret the fossils they see in front of them and connect those back to the sites from which they came, many of them now incorporated into geoparks that are open to visitors. Finally, in this section, Schütrumpf et al. (2024) describe the ‘Ask a Geologist’ service at the Warwick Market Hall Museum in central England, where staff of the museum and volunteers from the county geoconservation group meet the public to answer questions and identify rocks and fossils. The final two articles are about one of the longest-studied geological areas in the world, the Dorset coast in southern England. Davis (2024) describes the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival which has happened each year since 2005, attracting 15–20,000 people each time to the variety of stalls, scientific lectures, circus shows, and other events designed to link people to the geology and palaeontology and especially the geoconservation aspects of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage site. It all began with Mary Anning (1799–1847), and Pearson (2024) presents an evocative account of her involvement in the campaign to establish a statue in honor of the great fossil collector. In particular, she describes how Mary Anning has become a hero worldwide for her contributions and acts as an inspiration for young people, especially girls, to become scientists, but also to take an interest in geology, palaeontology, and geoconservation. https://oiccpress.com/gcr/article/view/8116GeoconservationMuseums CollectionsExhibitionsResearchEducation |
| spellingShingle | Michael J. Benton Sarah King Museums and Geoconservation Geoconservation Research Geoconservation Museums Collections Exhibitions Research Education |
| title | Museums and Geoconservation |
| title_full | Museums and Geoconservation |
| title_fullStr | Museums and Geoconservation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Museums and Geoconservation |
| title_short | Museums and Geoconservation |
| title_sort | museums and geoconservation |
| topic | Geoconservation Museums Collections Exhibitions Research Education |
| url | https://oiccpress.com/gcr/article/view/8116 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT michaeljbenton museumsandgeoconservation AT sarahking museumsandgeoconservation |