Review: Educación y divulgación del patrimonio arqueológico

Abstract

A popular proverb states ‘Don't play with your food’. This  maxim that not only concerns those of us who have the immense fortune of dedicating our working hours (and more if possible) to the noble discipline of archaeology and historical research. If anything is really clear to us, it is that Heritage (from the perspective of investigation, safeguard and management) is more than  the ‘food’ of a couple of professors and four tourist guides, but of many thousands whose income depends on it essentially through tourism. In fact, tourism in Spain in 2019 before the pandemic yielded 154,487 million Euros to the economy, representing 12.4% of its GDP. In fact, dear reader, please reflect on what drives you to go on vacation? And what leads you to choose one tourist destination over another? The response is simple: diversity. It represents a search for something that is unknown where you reside, something unique and unrepeatable that is only found at a particular destination, a unique setting offering an aesthetic or gastronomic experience that otherwise would not be worth the visiting. This book under review delves precisely into the question of this diversity we seek when traveling as it is Heritage (either material or intangible, artistic, monumental, archaeological or natural) that gives an identity to each city, each community. Heritage renders them different from other neighbouring cities. From a material point of view, Heritage is what attracts tourists and, even more, from a sentimental point of view, it is what offers signs of identity to locals. Thus in the end we are not only talking about ‘things to eat’.