Following the looting, and in some cases almost total ruin, of museums, libraries and archaeological sites in Iraq, the destruction of cultural property during times of conflict has become an issue of international importance.

Since 2003 Peter Stone’s research has explored what can be realistically expected of the military and others with respect to the protection of cultural property during armed conflict. Spanning his role as archaeological advisor to the UK Ministry of Defence, and through a series of landmark publications, media activities, work with a Parliamentary Select Committee, and the development of training modules, his work has influenced UK and international policy, the agenda of NGOs and the doctrine of national and international armed forces.

Arguing for a proactive and effective response to conflict from the cultural heritage community and military forces alike, Stone asks: why, after thousands of years of human conflict, have we not got better at protecting cultural property? Can we better? What should we do? Can we do it before our common human heritage is lost forever?

The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq, co-edited with Joanne Farchakh Bajjaly, gathers together 28 chapters outlining the personal stories of those individuals who were – and in many cases continue to be – involved in the protection of cultural property in Iraq. Part diary of events, part identification and analysis of issues, and part draft strategy for future cooperation between cultural heritage experts and the military, the book considers the time period before, during, and after the 2003 invasion.

Providing a baseline of knowledge about what went wrong in Iraq, and about what the relationship between cultural heritage experts and the military could be, The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq included some of the first views written by Iraqis concerning archaeology in Iraq under Saddam, as well as chapters written by American and European colleagues. Stone’s chapter, ‘The identification and protection of cultural heritage during the Iraq conflict: a peculiarly English tale’, which outlined his work as archaeological advisor to the UK Ministry of Defence, identified a series of 18 points for future action.

Cultural Heritage, Ethics and the Military followed on from this work. The book addressed and contextualized the ‘ethical crisis’ in archaeology, prompted by concerns that cultural heritage experts had provided some form of academic and cultural ‘legitimacy’ to the invasion of Iraq by working with the military. Including an historical overview, a focus on religious, medical, and indigenous relations with the military and chapters devoted to future relationships, the 18 contributors together underscored the complexity involved, while emphasizing the importance of relationships between cultural heritage experts and the military to better protect cultural property in case of future conflict. Stone followed-up some of these ethical issues in his 2012 IJHS article that situated cultural property protection within the broader context of human rights.

More recently, Stone’s research has focused on the development of a four-tier approach to cultural property protection and co-operation: long-term, immediately pre-deployment, during conflict, and post conflict. Published in Antiquity (2013), the article a retired commander of the British Field Army, commented: ‘I think your basic 4 step approach is sound…What you propose is very possible and the mechanisms are there to introduce it’.

The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq is a landmark text, described in the THES as ‘an extraordinary achievement that will stand as the definitive account of the desperate, avoidable cultural tragedy of Iraq for many years to come’ and in British Archaeology as ‘mandatory reading for anybody who expresses an opinion about archaeologists and the invasion of Iraq’. It also won the prestigious James R Wiseman book award, given by the Archaeological Institute of America, who noted the book’s ability to open up previously specialist debates to a wider, and indeed global, public.

One of the major issues highlighted by The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq was the (continued) failure of the UK to ratify the ‘1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict’ and its two Protocols of 1954 and 1999. Stone continues to be heavily involved in lobbying the UK Government to ratify the Convention, which would make cultural heritage awareness training for all forces in the UK a legal responsibility.

For example, the Stone gave oral and written evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee scrutinising the Draft Cultural Property (Armed Conflict) Bill in 2008.The Committee asked for a copy of Destruction, later referring specifically to it in their report. Stone also wrote evidence on behalf of 13 heritage organisations that was submitted to the Iraq (Chilcot) Inquiry in 2009. In 2012 he wrote a Policy Brief for UK National Commission for UNESCO detailing the value to the UK of ratifying the Convention, and in 2012 he worked with his local MP to table a written question on the likely timing of this. Meeting with relevant ministers in previous and current governments, Stone’s work resulted in an unsuccessful request for Parliamentary time during the 2012/13 Session to pass the necessary legislation. It is now hoped that a similar request will be made in 2013/14.

As a result of links made during the writing of The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq, the UK National Commission for UNESCO sponsored the travelling version of the exhibition Catastrophe! The Looting and Destruction of Iraq's Past. Produced by Stone in conjunction with the Oriental Institute in Chicago in 2009, Catastrophe! has been shown at eight UK and European venues including Newcastle upon Tyne, Durham, London, Dublin, and The Hague. It is estimated that it reached around 10,000 specialists and members of the public.

As trust between Stone and various military forces grows, he has been asked to give talks at various military symposia dealing with cultural property protection, including events held in the United States, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany and the UK. He is also contributing to the development of a training module for middle ranking officers on cultural property protection for NATO, and has prepared training sessions and materials for the Lebanese Army, the Nigerian Army and the Economic Community of West African States. His links with the MoD and NATO have ensured that lists, prepared by colleagues, of cultural property to be protected in Libya, Mali, and Syria have been accepted and passed on to those responsible for targeting. In Libya this information led directly to the protection of the Roman Fort at Ras Almargeb while six mobile radar stations parked very close to the monument were targeted precisely and destroyed.

The value of Stone’s work on the ‘4 Tier Approach’ is also recognised by the British Army. Stone’s four-Tier approach article is to be reprinted in the professional army journal British Army Review in Winter 2013 to bring his work to the attention of a wider military audience.

Stone is currently planning a research project that will provide an historic overview of cultural property protection and iconoclasm. This will focus on the interconnected areas of international humanitarian law, trade in illicit antiquities and the development of good practice within the military and related organisations and agencies.

He is currently working with UK Blue Shield Committee to develop an AHRC Research Networking Scheme to support this work.

His relevant publications include:

• Stone PG. A four-tier approach to the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict. Antiquity 2013, 87(335), 166-177.
• Stone PG. Human Rights and Cultural Property Protection in Times of Conflict. International Journal of Heritage Studies 2012, 18(3), 271-284.
• Stone PG, ed. Cultural Heritage, Ethics, and the Military. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2011.
• Stone PG. Protecting Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict: Lessons from Iraq. Archaeologies 2009, 5(1), 32-38.
• Stone PG, Farchakh Bajjaly J, ed. The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq. Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, 2008.

Hadrian’s Wall is one of the largest and most complicated archaeological monuments in the UK, stretching for over 120 miles from Ravenglass on the West coast of England to Wallsend on the East.

In 1987 Hadrian’s Wall was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1996 it became the first World Heritage Site in the UK to have a Management Plan: now an internationally recognized example of good practice. Owned by over 700 individuals and organizations, and consistently breaking new ground by practically defining what contemporary heritage management in the UK could, and should, be, the management of Hadrian’s Wall continues to be a vast and complicated task.

In the period 2005 to 2012, as Chair of the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site Management Plan Committee (MPC), Peter Stone sought to develop the management of Hadrian’s Wall in a manner that was both holistic, and that matched the aspirations of UNESCO and the World Heritage Convention. Pointing out that good management cannot be an end in itself but must have a deeper purpose, Stone has repeatedly asked: what is the management of Hadrian’s Wall for?

The Management Plan for Hadrian’s Wall originally developed in 1996 was followed by a revised version in 2002. In 2005 the Upper German-Raetian Limes (which mark out the Roman border fortifications for 550km) were added to make up the multinational World Heritage Site: ‘Frontiers of the Roman Empire’. In 2008, this was further expanded to include the Antonine Wall in central Scotland.

Stone worked on the 2002 revision of the Management Plan as a member of the Management Plan Committee (MPC). In 2004 he was seconded part-time for a six-month period from Newcastle University to work on a major study at Hadrian’s Wall concerning the increased involvement of Regional Development Agencies (alongside work at Durham’s World Heritage Site and the candidate site at Wearmouth-Jarrow). In 2008, as Chair of the MPC, Stone helped to implement a major re-writing and re-configuration of management in the Third Plan, which will run until 2014. Broken into seven sections, including a review of the previous plans, the 2008 Management Plan brought together a number of stakeholders, interest groups, partner organisations and committee members to command broad support.

Following on from this, Stone worked with a number of his colleagues on a book, published in 2013. The book provides an ‘insiders’ view of the development of the management of Hadrian’s Wall that is at once informative, unique, and revealing. It further serves two purposes:

It provides a narrative of what happened, when, how and why, as written by those involved It identifies the key elements of managing such a large and complex site

Demonstrating, over 12 chapters, how these issues have been addressed in different and practical ways over the last 30 years, and may develop into the future, the book also considers how Hadrian’s Wall is used, a contentious issue that has direct relevance and impact on how it is managed.

Stone was particularly involved in the 2008 Management Plan.

In the Foreword to the 2008 Plan, while he acknowledged that the fundamental purpose of management was to protect sites for present and future generations, he argued that it was also much more than that:

“…it is the mechanism through which we strive to understand not only the history of the site but also its use and values for the present and the future”.

_{(Hadrian’s Wall Management Plan 2008-2014 p.v)}

Accordingly, ‘top-down’ approaches that focused almost exclusively on conservation, as found in earlier plans, were rejected and developed into a more holistic approach, which identified six equally important areas:

• Planning and Protection
• Conservation, Farming and Land Management
• Access and Transport
• Visitor Facilities, Presentation and Tourism
• Education and Learning
• Research

Each of the six areas is now represented by an Interest Group, whose members first generated action points for the 2008 Management Plan and continue to monitor, deliver and adjust these today. This major change in responsibility and focus is, to date, found at very few, if any, other World Heritage Site[s].

In addition, the book brings together academic reflection and practical implementation, to focus on, for example, the values associated with Hadrian’s Wall, the need for wide-ranging engagement and participation, and the need for strong, effective and two-way communication. Contributing a chapter, plus the introduction and conclusion, Stone argues that we can never be complacent, but must acknowledge that the investment in initiatives – such as the long distance national walking trail, require long-term commitment of resources and a robust management system to ensure both the continuing preservation of the Wall and that the Wall is able to be used in the future.

Stone is now beginning research that considers World Heritage Sites in relation to UNESCO’s primary goal of peace. Inspired by Tullie House’s Living Wall display, which questions the use of barriers, boundaries and borders throughout history as a force for peace, he hopes to get people thinking about how, and why, heritage sites work.

Stone PG, ed. Managing, Using, and Interpreting Hadrian's Wall as World Heritage. 2013. In Press.

The 2008 Management Plan for Hadrian’s Wall can be downloaded here.

More information on the Living Wall display at Tullie House can be found here.