Global perspectives on British Archaeology: an East Anglian model for positioning our heritage in international context

From footprints left by the earliest inhabitants of northern Europe (on Norfolk's north coast) to the buried prehistoric landscapes of the Fens (exemplified by Flag Fen), from the Neolithic flint mines of Grimes Graves to the Anglo-Saxon burial mounds of Sutton Hoo, East Anglia boasts some of the finest remains from the ancient past, of importance not only for understanding Britain, but also of global significance. And yet appreciation and presentation of these all-too-often hidden treasures remains at the local level, and is often bypassed by international visitors who may go to Stonehenge, Roman Bath or Viking York, but will mostly miss out on what the rest of the country has to offer in terms of heritage. This project will help establish a sustainable framework for presentation and research of East Anglia's heritage within a bigger international picture, including engaging communities in international cultural exchange through archaeology. It is envisaged this international positioning of East Anglian heritage can stand as a model for wider strategic thinking on presentation and management of British heritage.

This project grows out of two successful exhibitions on the theme of Japanese prehistoric figurines at the British Museum, and a comparative exhibition of Japanese and European figurines at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia (2009-2010). These exhibitions attracted great public interest both in the UK and Japan. During the 2010 exhibition, an artefact from Grimes Graves was exhibited for the first time in the county where it was discovered in 1939. The extraordinary story of this Grimes Graves 'chalk goddess' inspired a series of further academic, youth and civic exchanges between Japan and the UK, demonstrating how powerful archaeology can be in revitalising local communities and for knowledge transfer and public engagement with new audiences internationally. This series of exchanges provides the inspiration and foundation for the current project.

At a time of increasing challenges to local and national heritage authorities (including council heritage services and bodies such as English Heritage), this project will help develop capacity within communities to realise further potentials of heritage resources within their locality by clearly demonstrating the 'international significance' of these resources, and the potential benefits in developing international interest. This requires a reassessment of the linkages between archaeology amenity groups (including local societies and Heritage Lottery Fund community projects) with those charged with protecting the archaeological resource, academics, other heritage stakeholders (e.g. tourist boards), and development organisations (Local Enterprise Partnerships). Central elements of the project's work providing exposure to the potentials of international approaches to heritage will be exhibitions and public workshops, and digital media.

The east of England has an exemplary record in researching, managing, conserving and developing the historic environment, including pioneering regional archaeological assessments, which informed future strategies for researching and managing what is recognised as a vulnerable and finite resource. In bringing a new 'international' dimension to approaches to heritage in the east of England this project aims to contribute to this exemplary evolving record. Using existing infrastructure (e.g. Festival of British Archaeology, Heritage Open Days), the project will foster new knowledge exchange between stakeholders, develop new means of interactive public engagement with archaeology, engaging new communities and audiences. It will provide access to examples of best practice in this area, hitherto limited to the anecdotal. The long-term aim of the project is to demonstrate how such an 'international' approach to East Anglia's heritage can inform policy and practice into the future, both in the UK and abroad.

The 'Global Perspectives on British Archaeology' project will benefit the following groups in the following ways:

~ local communities: the project will provide great potential for a wide range of enhanced interaction with heritage for a range of local communities. This will include free access to exhibitions and public workshops providing new international perspectives on our past and societies, and it is envisaged that the associated regional and international exchanges will provide great potential for opening new horizons for a wide variety of age groups. The recent example of the Thetford Teenage History Club's visit to Japan on the back of archaeological exchange is the most striking example of the potential impacts involved.

~ Public and third sector heritage organisations: The 'Guidance Notes on Internationalising East Anglian Heritage' will be of benefit to museum and other heritage professionals looking to realise the international potential of future projects, including those involving volunteers (e.g. HLF). Benefits will take the form of examples of best practice in engaging new audiences through added value brought to such projects by an international perspective. The example of the 'Dogu: Spirits of Clay' project demonstrated how an economic multiplier can come into play (turning a £375,000 investment by AHRC into an estimated economic impact of £5 million). Such impact is of increasing importance given the challenging environment for public funding of the sector. Such organisations include: county archaeology groups; museums and galleries funded by local government and universities.

~ Education sector: appreciation of the international significance of local archaeology and heritage contributes to motivating home students to engage with and understand their heritage in new ways, thus contributing not only to enhanced quality of life and creative output (as already demonstrated through the Thetford-Nagawa initiative), but also to the Widening Participation agenda encouraging more students to apply to study at university.

~ International, national and local authorities: responsibility for archaeology usually lies within government agencies, and being able to draw on arguments for international significance would undoubtedly help justify public expenditure in this sector (and would be of interest to organisations such as English Heritage, Historic England, Association of Local Government Archaeology Officers, Museums Association etc). The research will also be of interest to international bodies (UNESCO, World Archaeological Congress, European Association of Archaeologists), and to heritage organisations in other countries, including of course Japan, to which presentations would be made (separately funded) and copies of publications provided.

~ Commercial private sector: most archaeological work in the UK is undertaken by private contractors, often tasked with explaining the significance of their discoveries to the public and the research conducted in this project would aid such explanations. Recently successful organisations in this sector include the Norwich Heritage and Regeneration Trust (HEART), developed with the aim of realising the economic potential of heritage within a framework of sustainable development. The project would benefit from the expertise and experience accrued by HEART, and provide benefit to successor organisations.

~ These benefits will begin to be realised immediately, and indeed the Sainsbury Institute's existing relationships have already informing the development of for example future HLF bids. It is anticipated longer-term benefits will accrue as the research results feed into broader strategy development across the sector.

~ Research and professional skills: Staff on the project will develop enhanced public-interface skills; volunteers will receive instruction in database development and report writing; all involved will develop new international interaction skills.