Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
water, and whose features are of both natural and human origin. Not all cultural heritage
resources have ofi cial designation status. In developing countries, many cultural heritage
sites may not even be formally recognized or documented. In developed countries, details
of sites may be maintained on registers which can be accessed through criteria such as type,
age, location etc.
Not all cultural heritage
resources have offi cial
designation status.
How to Defi ne its Signifi cance?
The Newfoundland Museum (
www.nfmuseum.com
) dei nes signii cance as follows.
Scientifi c Signifi cance
Historic resources may be scientii cally signii cant in two respects. First, an appropriate
measure of the scientii c signii cance of a site is its potential to yield information that, if
properly recovered, will substantially foster the understanding of local or national herit-
age. In this respect, a historic site should be evaluated in terms of its capability or potential
to help resolve current heritage research problems. Scientii c signii cance should also refer
to a site's potential for making substantive contributions to other disciplines, or for provid-
ing information which may be used by industry for practical purposes. The relevance of
historic resource data to private industry may also be interpreted as a particular kind of
public signii cance.
Public Signifi cance
A site's relative potential for enhancing the public's understanding and appreciation of the
past can be considered as its public signii cance. In this respect, a site's interpretive, edu-
cational, and recreational potential are valid indications of its public signii cance. Unlike
those criteria for measuring scientii c signii cance, public signii cance criteria such as ease
of access, land ownership, or scenic setting, are often external to the site itself.
Ethnic Signifi cance
Ethnic signii cance applies to historic sites which have religious, mythological, social,
or other special symbolic value to an ethnically distinct community or group of people.
Archaeological, historical, and architectural sites may have some degree of ethnic signii -
cance. Determining the ethnic signii cance of an historic site may require consulting those
groups who occupy or have occupied the site, the descendants of such groups, or people
who presently own or live near the site.
Historical Signifi cance
Historically signii cant sites can be readily associated with individuals or events that made
an important, lasting contribution to the historic development of a particular locality or
larger area. Historically important sites are also those which rel ect or commemorate the
historic socioeconomic character of an area. This type of signii cance applies to both archi-
tectural and historic sites, including those of an archaeological nature. Normally, sites hav-
ing high historical signii cance will also have high social or public signii cance.
Economic Signifi cance
The economic or monetary value of an historic site, if calculable, is also an important
indication of signii cance. In some cases, it may be possible to project monetary benei ts
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