Discovering WF16: Building Engagement with Neolithic Archaeology as Pathway to Economic Development in Southern Jordan

As recognized in the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, arts and humanities research can play a significant role in building sustainable tourism and by so doing contribute towards economic development. The DISCOVERING WF16 project will provide an exemplar case study by drawing on the results the AHRC funded 2008-2010 excavation of the early Neolithic settlement of WF16 to build a Neolithic Heritage trail in Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan. This will help attract Jordanian and international visitors into this impoverished region of southern Jordan, providing employment and income into the local Bedouin community, while enhancing the visitor experience and providing a case study for the use of arts and humanities research in economic development.

Following its discovery in 1996 and evaluation between 1997 and 2003, WF16 was subject to a major excavation between 2008 and 2010 (Figs 7 & 8). The settlement was exposed as having a dense cluster of dwellings, workshops and a large communal structure dating to between 11,800 and 10,200 years ago with considerable significance for understanding the origin of sedentary communities and farming economies in SW Asia. Moreover, WF16 is the earliest of three Neolithic sites within Wadi Faynan, providing a unique Neolithic landscape for the region, and potentially for S.W. Asia as a whole.

The Jordanian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MOTA) and Eco Hotels have sought to develop sustainable tourism into Wadi Faynan as a means to both support the local Bedouin communities and for nature conservation. This has primarily been undertaken by promoting the wildlife, landscapes and traditional Bedouin lifestyles within Wadi Faynan and by the provision of an Eco-Lodge (managed by Eco Hotels) designed to provide a 'wilderness experience' for visitors (Figs 3 & 4). A local museum has been constructed by MOTA but has yet to be fitted with displays and information (Fig 6). Despite archaeology and cultural heritage being a major attraction for tourists visiting the World Heritage site of Petra, located a mere 50 Km from Wadi Faynan, the Neolithic settlements of Wadi Faynan have not been made accessible and marketed to potential visitors. By so doing, the DISCOVERING WF16 project aims to increase the number of tourists coming to Wadi Faynan, partly by attracting some of those who currently only visit Petra, and extend their length of stay in the Wadi. This will generate increased expenditure into the local economy while also enhancing the educative and recreational experience of both the visitors and the resident community.

To achieve these aims, DISCOVERING WF16 will work with the MOTA, Eco Hotels and other relevant bodies to establish a Neolithic trail in Wadi Faynan. This will involve a Neolithic Heritage film to be shown at the Eco-Lodge and local museum, display boards for those venues, information boards at the Neolithic sites, a trail guide, and archaeological training for Bedouin guides. These outputs will also provide resources for utilisation by Jordanian bodies in their own initiatives relating to developing sustainable tourism into the region.

The Wadi Faynan Neolithic trail will provide an anchor for the South Jordan Neolithic Trail that will extend from Wadi Faynan to the Neolithic site of Beidha in the vicinity of Petra. This 50 Km walking/cycling/driving trail has been designed to provide access for tourists to a Neolithic sites in the region, drawing on the local communities for services such as food, guides and accommodation, and thereby supporting their development while enhancing knowledge and appreciation of the Neolithic archaeology and its significance for cultural developments in SW Asia. The Wadi Faynan Neolithic trail will provide a key component of this larger and long-term project, which will be promoted within the Neolithic Heritage Film and hence enabling the DISCOVERING WF16 to have impact beyond Wadi Faynan itself.

The DISCOVERING WF16 project will have impact on four key beneficiaries:

(1) The resident Bedouin communities of Wadi Faynan: Wadi Faynan is an impoverished region with high levels of unemployment. Its traditional economic base of goat-herding has fallen dramatically in recent years due to steep increases in the cost of feed and a reduction in natural fodder. Eco-tourism provides an important economic opportunity for the local Bedouin community, providing income directly to the local communities, from whom visitors their purchase food, water and services such as drivers and trail guides, and indirectly via the supply chains of the Wadi Faynan Eco-Lodge. The overall aim of the DISCOVERING WF16 project is to increase sustainable eco-tourism by promoting the archaeological heritage, providing a beneficial economic impact to the local community. The impact of the project will be measured by resident surveys at the May and September project milestones, and then by on-going feedback and resident surveys collected by the Eco Lodge and museum and provided to the project PI.

(2) The Jordanian and international eco-tourists visiting Wadi Faynan: The May 2010 snapshot survey of the 129 eco-tourists at the Eco-Lodge identified 32% as Jordanian, 18% as UK, 37% as European (other than UK), 5% as Israeli, 2% as Middle East (other than Jordan and Israel), 1% as US and the remaining 5% coming from elsewhere in the world. Such visitors to Wadi Faynan will benefit by gaining access to the Neolithic heritage within the wadi, which is otherwise largely absent from their current itineraries, learning and recreational experience. This will increase their awareness of the significance of the Neolithic as a prehistoric period and of southern Jordan within the emergence of the Neolithic in SW Asia. This will enrich their own overall experience of Wadi Faynan, and thereby generate repeat and further visits by their word-of-mouth/social media promotion.

(3) The Project Partners, The Jordanian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and Eco Hotels: These bodies will directly benefit from the film, display boards and guidebook as materials that support their own missions. These project partners, along with the Jordanian Tourist Board and Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, will have played a key role in shaping these materials so they are effective for both the immediate concerns of the project regarding the Wadi Faynan Neolithic Trail and have added value for their own wider activities. The materials will be made available to utilize in their own activities beyond Wadi Faynan itself. The project will also play a role in further developing the policies and practices of these Jordanian bodies regarding the cultural heritage management, wildlife conservation and sustainable tourist development. This will be realized via on-going engagement between the Project Team, the Council for British Research in the Levant and the Project Partners.

(4) Heritage and International Development policy and advisory bodies: The written reports and evaluation of the DISCOVERING WF16 project will also be made available to international organizations concerned with heritage management and international development, such as International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the World Monuments Fund (WMF). They will be sent directly to key personnel and presented at conferences. It is anticipated that WF16 will provide a case study for how heritage management and international development can be mutually supportive, demonstrating one means by which the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development agenda item of using "arts and humanities research contributions to the development of ...sustainable tourism" can be realized.