Unlocking Hidden Heritage European Project
Cyprus Action -Mapping the Cultural Landscape -22nd October to 4th November 2007
Sasha Bosbeer
Cyprus training action 'Unlocking Hidden Heritage'
The training action in Cyprus with the Unlocking Hidden Heritage project
focussed on mapping endemic plants. This meant cars driving slowly along
the beach (and rapidly along the motorway) with multiple Geographic Positioning
System (GPS) receivers hanging out every window, and then huddles of participants,
comparing accuracy and capability. It involved wandering white salt marshes
with a sunhat and a GPS, and identifying endemic species of rushes. And
then watching old hands weaving those rushes into green baskets of different
sizes. A elderly basketmaker pulled through long leaves of sedges and other
wetland plants, hunting the one he used to wrap strong sedge leaves chair
seats in the long fleshy green leaves of his target plant. The participants
brought bunches of the leaves, and dried up fruits, back to the training
centre and paged through thick flora to find the species - most of which
turned out to the endemic. The dry, crusted white saltmarshes and wetlands
around Akortiri had so much to show us.
The first was the GPS, which was a universal tool. Each of us had one in our hand, walking in the heat among the rushes and sedges, which was followed by ice coffee and downloading, data cleaning, and then tracks dotting the background photos in GIS (ArcView). But the GPSes were entertaining as well - showing us the path to the beach in the evening, the route on the highway to heritage centres, and the location of the monuments. One of the participants was particularly experienced with GPS, and there was a lot of lateral learning.
Crafts was a second major theme in the training action, and the trip to the cultural crafts centre was fascinating in seeing all sorts of crafts used. One of the crafts was pottery, and the smooth pate of the second-generation potter over the smooth face of the pot on the wheel in contrast with the irregular fibres of the woollen weave bags and the shine on the buttons on the traditional costumes. Food -candied aubergine and beer-, pottery museum, ancient ruins, cats stretching in monastery courtyards as nuns approach angry at photographs, huge clay vats for oil and wine, villages, Aphrodite's temple, and sitting in the shade in the afternoon were other essential elements to the training action.
Overall, absolutely fascinating.