Although cultural heritage management is an inherently retrospective
discipline, there is a need for strategic forward thinking. Too many
valuable heritage places have been lost because they are not recognized
and assessed in time. As cultural heritage management begins to examine
modern structures and sites, this paper takes strategic thinking in
cultural heritage management one step further and addresses the management
of artifactual material created by our closest relatives, the great apes.
Given the increasing understanding that chimpanzees have cultures and
traditions in tool use, there is a need to recognize their heritage value
in reference to human evolution.
Expanding the concept of nonhuman
heritage into the future, it is now also time to explore how to deal with
the artifacts that the first artificial intelligence (AI)-imbued,
self-reflecting robots will create. By extension, which artifacts will be
kept along the way? The contemplation of the role of nonhuman heritage
will ultimately foster a reappraisal of human heritage. The article
outlines some of the conceptual issues that must be addressed if our
heritage is to have an ethical future.*Institute of Land, Water and Society. Email: e-mail
dspennemann@csu.edu.au