A critical reflection of the development of biocultural heritage conservation and community based projects: a case study of Goonhilly Downs.
Jake Riding
the 20th Century satellite dishes and 21st Century, wind turbines, creating a multi layered ‘taskscape’ evidencing human agency at the site. (https://happidrome.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/goonhilly-taskscape-2/) One of the most popular activities that we ran at both events was an archaeological tour of the site with local archaeologist Charlie Johns. I think a little bit of knowledge and an embodied experience helps fire the imagination. Guided walks are a good vehicle for this. Conventional ‘interpretation’ of the site will always be barren and unsatisfying. The SSSI status and rare species on the site could in the future be attractive to bio-cultural heritage visitors in a managed way, as specialised habitats sadly decline elsewhere. I am mindful however of the thoroughly depressing Stonehenge ‘experience’ and would hate to think of Goonhilly becoming an ecological theme park analogous to that. It’s interesting because people perceive Goonhilly as a natural wilderness but are unaware how heavily it is managed to support biodiversity and that without this human intervention, it would revert to scrub. So perhaps that also needs to be part of the story.”
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