The Giza pyramids, one of the world's most important archaeological sites, are threatened by urban expansion, pollution, conservation challenges, and the pressures of tourism. A critical need exists for effective site management to protect the archaeological riches of this important site. The author describes the implementation of a four-phase management plan initiated in 1988. In the first phase, an organization scheme for the site was prepared. Phase II defined a conservation and archaeological plan for the east side of the Great Pyramid and for the queens' pyramids. Phase III, which is ongoing, will define conservation of the three main pyramids, includes a tourism management plan, and will complete development of a site master plan. Phase IV will outline a program for ongoing archaeological research and conservation. The site management plan for the Giza Plateau provides a model for addressing a wide spectrum of environmental issues affecting archaeological sites.

William St. Clair's article in 8 International Journal of Cultural Property 391-521 (1999) raised questions about the cleaning of the Parthenon marbles in London in the 1930s and about Elgin's so-called bribery of Turkish officials. The latter is here dismissed as normal practice. An account is given of the building and purpose of the Parthenon, its history to the end of the eighteenth century, then of the marbles taken to London and of those left in Athens. The cleaning is judged to have been no more than the comparable treatment of marbles in other museums, though vigorous in places, the intention being to make them intelligible to the visiting public, but resulting in no serious loss of detail or academic value. Finally, a personal viewpoint is given of the purposes for which ancient art is conserved, along with criteria for the optimum place of display for collections of cultural property of more than local importance in human history.

While the threat to the underwater cultural heritage from the treasure salvage industry is widely recognised, the approach to 'protection' ranges from absolute prohibition to the sale of state licences to the highest bidder. Even the former raises difficult problems of enforceability and the choice of mechanisms to determine whether in situ preservation is the preferred option for any particular wreck site. The common law jurisdictions have tended to prefer a regulated salvage regime, in which the courts themselves have a role in considering whether appropriate archaeological methodology is applied to the recovery of historic artefacts. This article examines the legal and economic basis of such an approach and evaluates whether the underwater cultural heritage has derived any discernible benefit from this judicial creativity. Inter alia, it concludes that the legal framework is itself flawed by uncertainty and that the deliberations of the court are hampered by procedural deficiencies.

Summary: Nigeria's national archival institution has been an object of neglect since its reluctant establishment in the colonial era to the present time. It was initially headed by a non-archivist on a part time and ad hoc basis, which blighted its prospects. The uniqueness of the National Archives of Nigeria as the nation's unfailing memory and one of the embodiments of its cultural heritage is not appreciated. There is an urgent need to improve radically the infrastructures of the institution, taking advantage of new technologies offered by the information revolution. Lack of democracy and accountability has been the bane of independent Nigeria. There is obviously a link between this state of affairs and the perilous state of the national and other archival institutions in the country. A sound records-management practice is urgently needed to ensure the managerial accountability so vital to good governance.