Lecture Access

This lecture will be available to view until 7 December 2026

  • 00 Days
  • 00 Hours
  • 00 Minutes
  • 00 Seconds

OVERVIEW

Watch on Demand | Online Lecture


In 1960, the ancient temples of Nubia faced oblivion. The construction of Egypt's Aswan High Dam threatened to submerge a landscape of priceless monuments beneath the rising waters of the Nile, and their survival seemed impossible. 

What followed was one of the most remarkable feats of international cooperation in history: under UNESCO's coordination, more than fifty nations joined forces to dismantle and relocate these treasures, piece by piece, to higher ground.

This extraordinary rescue did more than save the temples of Abu Simbel and Philae. It demonstrated that nations could set aside their differences for the sake of a shared human inheritance, and it laid the foundation for a global heritage movement. From that effort emerged the 1972 World Heritage Convention, which established a unified framework for protecting the world's most significant cultural sites and natural wonders for future generations.

In this lecture, Dr Chris Carter examines how UNESCO defines and manages World Heritage, and what this designation means for local communities, for tourism, and for our enduring relationship with the past.


LECTURER

Biography

Dr Chris Carter is a historical archaeologist with over 25 years’ experience leading tours both nationally and overseas. He has a BA (Hons), MA and PhD from the Australian National University. His PhD research was based on excavations he carried out at coastal sites in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. As a teacher, Chris has always declared that archaeology cannot be learned in the classroom. Such statements resulted in him taking a group to South America in 1995. He has continued to lead several tours a year ever since. The areas visited have expanded to other regions that reflect the subjects he teaches.

Dr Christopher Carter

Historical Archaeologist