Basic Biographical Information
Neville Agnew joined the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) in Los Angeles in January 1988. He came to the Getty from the Queensland Museum, Australia, where he had headed the conservation department, which he was instrumental in establishing when he joined that institution in 1980. Prior to 1980, he had pursued a career in academic and research chemistry in South Africa and Australia. Educated in South Africa, he did graduate research in England and received a doctorate in chemistry in 1967. His conservation work in Australia was mainly on the preservation of outdoor sites, including fossil footprints (the Lark Quarry dinosaur stampede site), a maritime archaeological site (the British warship Pandora wrecked in 1791 on the Barrier Reef), and the ruins of a nineteenth-century settlement (the penal colony on the island of St. Helena in Moreton Bay). Among his research activities have been a joint Getty Conservation Institute/New Mexico State Monuments project on adobe preservation, development of techniques for preservation and protection of archaeological sites, and a collaborative project with the U.S. National Park Service at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.
Dr. Agnew has led and participated in many of the international conservation projects of the institute, notably in China where he has worked continuously since 1989, under the Getty’s agreement with China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage, at the Mogao ancient Buddhist grotto site and the Chengde Imperial Summer Resort; and among others, in Egypt on conservation of the wall paintings in Nefertari’s tomb and the Great Sphinx at Giza; in Africa on the conservation of the bas-reliefs of the royal Palaces of Abomey and the Laetoli hominid trackway in Tanzania; South America in the Quito historic center; and in the city of Prague on the St. Vitus mosaic project. His long association with heritage conservation in China has resulted in a number of awards: the Friendship Award of the State Council in 2000, the International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Award of the PRC in 2005, and awards from Gansu Province and the Dunhuang Academy. He was instrumental in drawing up national guidelines for the conservation of heritage sites in China. Currently he leads the Getty’s collaborative projects in Egypt for the conservation of the Valley of the Queens and Tutankhamen’s tomb and the Southern African Rock Art Project.
Dr. Agnew has authored publications in research chemistry and conservation, including the book: Cave Temples of Mogao (with two coauthors), and is a member of several professional associations, including being on the editorial boards of the journals Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites and Historic Environment. For 8 years, he was a board member of the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (a program of the U.S. National Park Service) and served as chair. He has organized major international conferences and edited the proceedings. These include two conferences at the Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang and the conservation theme at the 5th World Archaeological Congress held in Washington, D.C., in 2003.
Dr. Agnew is currently senior principal project specialist in the Field Projects department of the GCI.
Major Accomplishments
Neville Agnew has successfully sustained significant multiyear international heritage conservation projects in a wide range of cultures and climates. These collaborative projects, as part of the GCI’s international outreach, are premised on identifying significant conservation needs or problems and developing partnerships and teams to address the issues. This has required both conceptual understanding and technical knowledge and the ability to lead. Examples of these projects have been the development of the Principles for the Conservation of Heritage Sites in China with the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Australian Heritage Commission, technical preservation interventions at the Mogao Grottoes, and completion of a decade-long project for conservation of the earth-based wall paintings at this World Heritage Site. Also at the Mogao Grottoes, the China Principles were used in drawing up a master plan which in turn led to the development of a systematic methodology for sustainable visitation to the site. In southern Africa, annual workshops have been mounted for conservation and management of rock art. These have been attended by participants from all 12 southern African countries, and linkages are now being forged with traditional owners of rock art sites in Australia.
In Tanzania, the 6-year project for the conservation of the 3.5-million-year-old Laetoli trackway was completed with educational outreach to local and international audiences. Currently in Egypt, in collaboration with the Supreme Council of Antiquities, a comprehensive plan for conservation and management of the Valley of the Queens with its 100 tombs has been completed, while research and study of the tomb of Tutankhamen is well advanced, in preparation for conservation of the wall paintings and presentation and interpretation of the tomb.
Cross-References
Aerial and Satellite Remote Sensing in Archaeology
Architectural Sites: Monitoring
Australia: Maritime Archaeology
Australia’s Archaeological Heritage
Authenticity in Archaeological Conservation and Preservation
China: Cultural Heritage Management
China: Cultural Heritage Preservation and World Heritage
China: Domestic Archaeological Heritage Management Law
China: Managing Cultural Heritage and the World Heritage List
China: New Approaches to Heritage Administration
Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites
Conservation and Preservation in Archaeology in the Twenty-First Century
Cultural Heritage and Communities
Cultural Heritage and the Public
Cultural Landscapes: Conservation and Preservation
Kakadu National Park: Rock Art
Kondoa Rock Paintings: Traditional Use
Nonstructural Sites: Monitoring
Paleoart Studies: Scientific Methods
Prehistoric Human Footprint Sites
Rock Art Recording Methods: From Traditional to Digital
Rock Art Sites: Management and Conservation
Sierra de San Francisco: Great Mural Rock Paintings
Site and Artifact Preservation: Natural and Cultural Formation Processes
South Africa: Heritage Management
Stakeholders and Community Participation
Tanzania’s History and Heritage
Tourism, Archaeology, and Ethics: A Case Study in the Rupununi Region of Guyana
Trackways in Archaeological Conservation and Preservation
Underwater Sites in Archaeological Conservation and Preservation
Urban Landscapes: Environmental Archaeology
World Archaeological Congress (WAC)
World Archaeological Congress (WAC) and Cultural Heritage Management
Further Reading
Agnew, N. 2001. Methodology, conservation criteria and performance evaluation for archaeological site shelters. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 5: 7-18.
Agnew, N. (ed.) 1997. Conservation of ancient sites on the Silk Road. Proceedings of an international conference on the conservation of grotto sites, October, 1993. Los Angeles: Getty Publications.
- 2010. Conservation of ancient sites on the Silk Road. The second international conference on the conservation of grotto sites, Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, People’s Republic of China, June 28-July 3, 2004. Los Angeles: Getty Publications.
Agnew, N. & J. Bridgland. (ed.) 2006. Of the past, for the future: integrating archaeology and conservation. Proceedings of the Conservation Theme at the 5 th World Archaeological Congress, Washington (DC), 22-26 June, 2003. Los Angeles: Getty Publications.
Agnew, N. & M. Demas. 1998. Preserving the Laetoli footprints. Scientific American September 1998: 26-37.
- 2004. Monitoring through replication: design and evaluation of the monitoring reburial at the Laetoli trackway. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 6: 295-304.
Agnew, N. & M. Demas. (ed.) 2002. Principles for the conservation of heritage sites in China. Los Angeles: Getty Publications.
Agnew, N. & J. Fan. 1997. Treasures at Dunhuang. Scientific American July 1997: 29-33.
Agnew, N. & S. Maekawa. 1999. Preserving Nefertari’s legacy. Scientific American October 1999: 75-79.
Agnew, N., H. Griffin, M. Wade, T. Tebble & W. Oxnam. 1989. Strategies and techniques for the preservation of fossil tracksites: an Australian example, in D.D. Gillette & M.G. Lockley (ed.) Dinosaur tracks and trackways: 397-407. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Agnew, N., S. Maekawa, R. Coffman & J. Meyer. 1996. Evaluation of the performance of a lightweight modular site shelter. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 1: 139-50.
Agnew, N., Po-Ming Lin, Li Zuixiong & Wang Xudong. 1999. A lightweight composite panel for the repair of cave roofs at the Mogao Grottoes, China. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 3: 135-44.
Agnew, N., M. Demas, S. Sullivan & K. Altenburg. 2004. The begetting of charters: genesis of the China principles. Historic Environment 18: 40-9.
Agnew, N., C. Selwitz & M. Demas. 2004. Reburial research: preliminary field experiments. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 6: 333-45.
Agnew, N., K. Altenburg, M. Demas & S. Sullivan 2006. Tourism: a good servant, but a bad master: strategies for visitor management at Chengde and Mogao, China. Historic Environment 19: 13-9.
Burch, R. & N. Agnew. 2004. Reburial research: a conceptual design for field testing for the reburial of wall plasters and mosaic pavements. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 6: 347-61.
Guolong Lai, M. Demas & N. Agnew. 2004. Valuing the past in China: the seminal influence of Liang Sicheng on heritage conservation in China. Orientations 35: 82-89.
Whitfield, R., S. Whitfield & N. Agnew. 2000. Cave temples of Mogao: art and history on the Silk Road. Los Angeles: Getty Publications.
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Agnew, N. (2014). Agnew, Neville. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_412
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