Enriqueta Vento Mir – Pierre Guerin koord.: Early Farmers in Europe - A korai földművelők Európában (1999)
Foreword
Foreword I n many places of Europe impressive monuments dating from the Neolithic period (7000 - 3500 BC) can be found: megalithic monuments, graves, rock paintings. These monuments are major tourist attractions. They can also open the way to the awareness that during this Neolithic period the early farmers laid the basis for a form of civilisation that since then dominated Europe until the recent industrial revolution. At other places the traces left behind by these early agrarian civilisations are less obvious, but archaeologists have brought to light structures that may give an insight in the economic and social changes during this long period of cultural transtion in Europe. This also gives rise to theories about cultural change and acculturation. The centres and museums involved in the Early Farmers in Europe project - in flungary, Spain and the Netherlands - have to cope with the problem that on the one hand, for educational and for cultural tourism reasons, they want to promote visits to these monuments and sites, but on the other hand have to find ways of protecting them against vandalism or simply damaging use: graffiti on millenniums-old rock paintings, a fire in a stone tomb, digging in a grave hill. This is partly a matter of conservation and protection, partly a matter of awareness raising programmes. In response to these competing demands a common method is to create an 'information centre' or a museum within walking distance of, but not too close to the object. In the information centre, or by way of distance learning programmes, the public is being introduced to the backgrounds and value of the object in various ways (exhibitions, multimedia, hands-on methods, simulations etc.). It is hoped that after acquiring this knowledge and insight the objects themselves will be approached with more respect. The Early Farmers in Europe project aimed at sharing experiences and expertise in this field and developing new ways to attain these goals. The development of multimedia, the use of internet and distance learning received special attention. In addition to this and stimulated by these centres, school programmes can help to raise this awareness among children. The project therefore developed teaching material and educational methods to be used by the schools which participated in the project: museum kits, creative and hands-on methods, a theatre play and a game. Through the connection with the chain database (Cultural Heritage ancl Activities Network) the results of the project work also became available to a large number of schools involved in European Comenius projects. The project has been collaborative in two ways. During the project period a unique and fruitful collaboration developed between the three parties involved: archaeologists, museum curators and teachers/educationalists. In the second place, it also proved to be very fruitful to compare and combine the expertise about this period in three clif7
