REPAIRING RUINS, CREATING REVENUE. Heritage Management, Colonial Archaeology, and Heritage Tourism at the archaeological site of Timgad, Algeria (1900-1954).

Abstract

This thesis investigates how archaeological guidebooks have shaped the perception and place-making of (archaeological) heritage at the site of Timgad. Excavated extensively since French colonization in the 1850s, Timgad became a key site for archaeological tourism, or "archaeotourism". Focusing on three influential archaeologists and historians - Albert Ballu, Christian Courtois and Jean Lassus -, this study examines how these scholars aided the construction of a narrative on ancient Timgad as French-Roman heritage in the middle of North Afirca. Moreover, this ideology was also implemented in the tourism portrait of other Algerian sites. By analyzing guidebooks, photographs, drawings, and archaeological reports from 1900 to 1954 on Timgad, the thesis shows how materials created for a broader public helped define the purpose and meaning of this site, and its heritage. It also relates to how colonial narratives, embedded in these sources, continue to shape perceptions of Timgad today.