Paper short abstract:

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Paper long abstract:

A rise in heritage, identity and environmental consciousness has made conservation of the ancient, the natural and the unique of major importance to both local and tourist visitors to the Balearic Islands. However what is ?natural? or ?authentic? and worthy of conserving is a disputed question. With tourism now a major economic and social force in most of the islands bordering the Mediterranean, culture is often commoditized. Monuments are cleaned and made accessible to tourists and the tourism industry relies on such images to attract people to adventure into the past, they market past culture. Restored ancient monuments and preserved relics on the island of Mallorca offer the visitors an experience of another place and time which allows them to view their own lives in contrast to a far distant past. Island systems, are unique laboratories to gain knowledge and understanding of tourist and providers expectations, satisfactions, appeal and desire in local, international and global terms. This study will focus on an archaeological dig in one of the most tourist oriented areas of the Mediterranean where the commoditization of people, present and past cultures and environment is highly developed. The tourists have diverse expectations (but are their expectation really met?); there are locals who try to imagine/anticipate what the tourists expect from Mallorca (e.g. an experience of another place and time) but how successful is their guess?; there are archaeologists with their own expectations of discovering another place and time. How these different/similar expectations interact with each other will form the dynamic of this paper. The tourists motivations, imaginings and satisfactions of participating in the unravelling of ancient lives through the study of artefacts, landscapes and human remains will be contrasted to the stereotypical expectations of sand, sea and sex tourism so often associated with the Balearic Islands.

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