S56 – Inscribing early archaeological sites in Unesco’s World Heritage List

Most of the physical, psychological, physiological characteristics of humankind were shaped over the 2.6 million years of the Pleistocene geological period. During that incredibly long time period, the hominins faced impressive climatic changes showing strong resilience, adapting and developing technologies and keeping in balance with the environment. During the last few millennia of the Quaternary, those of the Holocene, a shift to food production eventually happened in several parts of the world, leading to ever increasing diversification of the human societies.

To expand the archaeological record of those millions of years in the World Heritage List, the World Heritage Committee approved in 2009 the HEADS project. It is a thematic initiative devoted to Human Evolution: Adaptations, Dispersals, and Social Developments, which the World Heritage Centre of UNESCO implemented. Since its inception, 42 World Heritage-related sites have been inscribed on the List, and 46 new “HEADS” related sites are included in the Tentative List of 40 countries.

Since the inception of HEADS programme 18 World Heritage Site have been inscribed in the World Heritage List in the Asian region. This session will be focused on the prospect of HEADS project in the region by looking and assessing the cooperation needs of the sites that have been proposed by the countries in their Tentative List. 

For inquiries and submissions, please contact:

Nuria Sanz, UNESCO – n.sanz@unesco.org

Margherita Mussi, Sapienza University of Rome – margherita.mussi@uniroma1.it