Sacred sites in contemporary cultures

Abstract

The preservation of sacred sites raises fundamental questions about the interplay between traditional cultures and modern society, between competing interests in land use and resource management and offers lessons in establishing and protecting values which are beyond the usual cultural, historic, commercial, or religious. Sacred sites require that we develop new terminology to express and evaluate intangible values, to incorporate them into the preservation process, and they challenge us to find new ways to resolve conflicts and accommodate cultural diversity.