ABSTRACT
The Community Archaeology Project at Quseir began in 1999 as part of the large-scale excavation of the ancient harbour site known in Roman times as Myos Hormos and in the present as Quseir al-Qadim ("Old Quseir"). The aim of the project is to involve the local community in all aspects of the archaeological enterprise, culminating in the creation of a heritage centre that presents the findings from the excavations to the people of Quseir and tourists visiting the area. The project is the first of its kind in Egypt, seeking to bring about a change in the way archaeology is conducted in a country where local communities have been systematically excluded both from the process of discovering their past and in the construction of knowledge concerning their heritage. . . . The underlying premise of the project is that it is no longer acceptable for archaeologists to reap the material and intellectual benefits of another society's heritage without that society being involved and able to benefit equally from the endeavour. We endorse the general goal of "community archaeology" to replace the traditional colonial model of archaeological practice with a socially and politically self-conscious mode of research, aiming ultimately to incorporate different cultural perspectives in the interpretation of the past.
