Can We Rebuild the Kasthamandap? Promoting Post-Disaster Rescue Excavations, Salvage and Subsurface Heritage Protection Protocols in Kathmandu

2015年袭击尼泊尔的地震造成了一场人类灾难。它们不仅造成了生命和生计的损失，还摧毁了加德满都独特的联合国教科文组织世界遗产的大部分。这座城市的纪念碑不仅是华丽的建筑，而且是活的纪念碑，在数千尼泊尔人的日常生活中发挥着核心作用。此外，他们的恢复具有重要的经济意义，因为他们是通过旅游业获得外汇和就业的主要来源。事实上，尼泊尔政府的“2015年文化遗产灾后需求评估”(PDNA)估计，与破坏和生计有关的损失达2300万美元以上。虽然有强烈的政治、社会和经济愿望希望迅速重建，但将灾后救援考古与重建结合起来是至关重要的。事实上，在现有废墟平台上重建寺庙的计划必须首先进行一个阶段的抢救性挖掘，以评估地基的地下稳定性，并进行详细的记录和科学分析，因为很少有建筑学研究考虑这些问题。这些将有助于更好地了解古迹是如何发展的，并有助于加强修复和未来的保护。还必须进行信息和数据共享以及能力建设，因为在灾后重建前阶段，由于建筑师和工程师对脚下的遗产一无所知，教科文组织世界遗产地内的古迹已经遭到破坏。事实上，在与加德满都的利益攸关方讨论了挑战和机遇后，很明显，目前对建筑上部结构修复的关注已经对加德满都的世界遗产地造成了更多的破坏。这在很大程度上没有引起注意，因为它对地下考古遗产造成了破坏，尽管这些遗产受到国家立法的保护。紧急干预措施严重损坏了一些建筑物，虽然是由找回受伤和死亡的人造成的，但最近的破坏与非紧急活动有关，包括工程承包商切割勘探战壕和钻探土芯、工人切割地基、士兵故意倒塌纪念碑和工程师拆除其他建筑物。所有这些事件通常都没有现场考古记录，也没有事先咨询训练有素的专业考古学家，这种情况与2015年的PDNA2015类似，该报告没有注意到修复和重建活动对脆弱的地下考古遗产的风险。更新的文件，如《2015年后地震恢复保护指南草案：保护指南》(CGPERCG2015)认识到了这种风险，但需要加强。值得注意的是，这种情况在整个南亚都很常见，尽管位于一个建筑遗产容易受到地震和快速城市化风险的地区，但在城市和抢救性考古方面存在能力不足。应尼泊尔政府和国际古迹遗址理事会(尼泊尔)的要求，并响应阿富汗人权委员会关于国际发展的通知，我们的目标是在斯里兰卡AHRC资助的“杰出的”分级研究取得成功的基础上，与非学术合作者一起举办一次实用的实地培训讲习班，重点是学习对加德满都坍塌的Kparamandap的地基进行评估的经验，以及学习帮助制定地震后重建计划的抢救材料，并为加强和传播地震后加德满都地震后的地下遗产议定书提供示范。

The earthquakes which struck Nepal in 2015 caused a human catastrophe. Not only did they inflict loss of life and livelihoods, they destroyed substantial parts of Kathmandu's unique UNESCO World Heritage site. The monuments of the city were not only ornate structures but were living monuments playing central roles in the daily lives of thousands of Nepalis. Furthermore, their rehabilitation is of economic importance as they represent a major source of foreign currency and employment through tourism. Indeed, the Government of Nepal's 'Cultural Heritage Post-Disaster Needs Assessment 2015' (PDNA) estimates that losses relating to damage and livelihoods amount to over US$23 million. Whilst there is a strong political, social and economic desire to reconstruct rapidly, it is critical that post-disaster rescue archaeology is combined with reconstruction. Indeed, plans to reconstruct temples on existing ruined platforms must first be preceded by a phase of rescue excavations to evaluate the subsurface stability of foundations with detailed recording and scientific analysis as few architectural studies have considered them. These will provide a greater understanding of how monuments developed and facilitate their enhanced rehabilitation and future protection. There is also an imperative for information and data sharing and capacity building as damage has already been inflicted on monuments within the UNESCO World Heritage site during the post-disaster pre-reconstruction phase led by architects and engineers unaware of the heritage beneath their feet.Indeed, having discussed challenges and opportunities with stakeholders in Kathmandu, it is clear that the current focus on the rehabilitation of architectural superstructures has resulted in additional damage to Kathmandu's World Heritage site. This has largely gone unnoticed as it entailed damage to subsurface archaeological heritage, even though this heritage is protected by national legislation. Emergency interventions badly damaged some buildings but, whilst they were driven by recovering the injured and dead, more recent damage relates to non-emergency activities, including engineering contractors cutting exploratory trenches and drilling soil cores, workmen cutting foundations, soldiers deliberately collapsing monuments and engineers dismantling others. All of these events had a common absence of in-situ archaeological recording and the absence of consultation with trained professional archaeologists beforehand.This absence is paralleled in the PDNA 2015, which fails to note the risk to the vulnerable subsurface archaeological heritage from rehabilitation and reconstruction activities. More recent documents, such as the draft 'Conservation Guidelines for Post 2015 Earthquake Rehabilitation: Conservation Guidelines' (CGPERCG2015) recognise this risk but need strengthening. It is worth noting that this situation is common across South Asia and there is a capacity deficit in urban and rescue archaeology, despite being located in a region whose built heritage is prone to risks from both seismic events and rapid urbanisation. Following requests from the Government of Nepal and ICOMOS (Nepal) and responding to AHRC's FoF 'Notice for International Development', our aim is to build on the success of the 'Outstanding' graded AHRC-funded research in Sri Lanka to conduct a practical field training workshop with non-academic collaborators to focus on learning from the evaluation of the foundations of the collapsed Kasthamandap in Kathmandu and as well as on salvaging material to assist post-earthquake plans for its reconstruction and to offer an exemplar for strengthening and disseminating post-disaster subsurface heritage protocols within post-earthquake Kathmandu.