An early morning walk through the cemetery!

The dogs are obviously operating on Berlin time as they are waking up at around 5 am these days. This morning I couldn't get back to sleep after letting them out for their first comfort break of the day, so got up and decided to take the early train to work. Walking through the Victorian cemetery that lies between home and the station at 6 am, I could barely hear myself think because of the cacaphony coming from the trees and bushes - this really was a dawn chorus to remember. It reminded me of the incredible wildlife value of some of our historic graveyards - an aspect that is often forgotten by those of us who live busy lives, rushing from place to place and rarely taking the time to stop, look, listen and celebrate the ordinary.

Fortunately, there are some community groups who are beginning to take an interest in managing historic graveyards for both their cultural and natural heritage interest. In York there is a long established group who run education programmes for local schools using the city's graveyards as a resource to teach lessons on, for instance, biology or local history (the Victorians - a classic topic at Key Stage 2 in English schools). And in Bradford, moves are afoot to encourage much more public engagement with the city's fine Undercliffe Cemetery.

So next time you are passing a graveyard, pop in and see what you can learn!

Heritage and Contemporary Culture in Jordan

Jordan’s rich heritage includes sites associated with, amongst other cultures, the Nabateans, Romans, Ummayids, Byzantines and Ottomans, as well as some of the most important locations associated with the region’s three monotheistic religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Seeing how these sites are being packaged, presented and managed for Jordan’s growing tourism sector has been particularly instructive in terms of reminding me of the plurality of interests that exist in almost every tourist destination and the opportunities that exist for telling multi-layered stories. Whereas the Nabatean heritage of Petra normally grabs the headlines, the Roman ruins are every bit as interesting (if not as monumental). Whilst the Roman ruins at Jerash may match the spectacle of Petra, their more recent function as a home for Circassian migrants to the region brings with it additional interest.

And the castle in Azraq, home for a few months to Lawrence before his final push on Damascus, was subsequently settled by Chechens fleeing persecution in their part of the world.


Yet whilst the two weeks I have just spent in Jordan on holiday and then on university business have provided me with a much greater understanding of the country’s cultural heritage, I found it difficult to gain an insight into contemporary Jordanian culture. Jordan’s population has been increased in recent decades by an influx of Circassians and Druze, two waves of Palestinian refugees and, more recently, more than a million displaced Iraqis. Inevitably, these socio-political factors are influencing Jordanian society even today. But where does the tourist go to, to understand the human environment they circumnavigate as they travel from ruin to museum? How can we interact more fruitfully with our hosts so that we understand their way of life as deeply as we are able to gain knowledge about that of their ancestors? Are two pages in a Rough Guide or Lonely Planet really enough?