Key Concepts in Public Archaeology
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
KEY CONCEPTS IN PUBLIC ARCHAEOLOGY Edited by Gabriel Moshenska Key Concepts in Public Archaeology Key Concepts in Public Archaeology Edited by Gabriel Moshenska First published in 2017 by UCL Press University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT Available to download free: www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press Text © Contributors, 2017 Images © Contributors and copyright holders named in captions, 2017 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from The British Library. This book is published under a Creative Commons 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: Gabriel Moshenska (ed.), Key Concepts in Public Archaeology. London, UCL Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781911576419 Further details about Creative Commons licenses are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ ISBN: 978–1–911576–44–0 (Hbk.) ISBN: 978–1–911576–43–3 (Pbk.) ISBN: 978–1–911576–41–9 (PDF) ISBN: 978–1–911576–40–2 (epub) ISBN: 978–1–911576–42–6 (mobi) ISBN: 978–1–787350–78–6 (html) ISBN: 978–1–911307–71–6 (Apple app) ISBN: 978–1–911307–72–3 (Android app) DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111. 9781911576419 This publication was made possible by funding from Jisc as part of the ‘Institution as e-textbook publisher’ project: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/institution-as-e-textbook-publisher. This book is dedicated to Tim Schadla- Hall who has led the teaching and study of public archaeology at UCL for two decades, and inspired and supported a generation of public archaeologists. Acknowledgements This book has been a long time in the making, and I must first express my thanks to everybody involved for their formidable patience. The collection of papers originates in the MA Public Archaeology at UCL, devised and taught over many years by Tim Schadla- Hall and others. Most of the contributors to this volume have taught on the MA course and several are graduates, while others carried out doctoral research within what is becoming known as the ‘London school’ of public archae- ology. This is the appropriate place to acknowledge the leadership and vision of the late Peter Ucko, whose understanding of archaeology as a politically engaged practice entangled in everyday life gave rise to the teaching programme in public archaeology at UCL Institute of Archaeology at both undergraduate and graduate level, as well as the creation of the journal Public Archaeology, still hosted in that depart- ment. The Ucko tradition of public archaeology as both scholarship and practice has been maintained over the last two decades by Tim Schadla- Hall, Neal Ascherson, Nick Merriman, Ulrike Sommer, Andrew Reid and many others in the Institute of Archaeology, and continues to this day. The publication of this volume has been guided with great patience and vision by Lara Speicher of UCL Press and her colleagues and I am grate- ful for their faith in the project. Public archaeology is founded upon the belief in breaking down divisions between professionals or academics and the wider world: UCL Press’ commitment to Open Access publishing is a beacon in this broader campaign to share knowledge freely beyond the pay- walls and prohibitive prices of traditional elite academic pub- lishing. Finally, my thanks to Maria Phelan and my family who have endured my moaning about this book for too long. Funding for this publication was provided by Jisc as part of the ‘Institution as e-textbook publisher project’. vii Contents List of figures and tables xi Notes on contributors xiii 1. Introduction: public archaeology as practice and scholarship where archaeology meets the world Gabriel Moshenska 1 2. Community archaeology Suzie Thomas 14 3. Economics in public archaeology Paul Burtenshaw 31 4. Archaeology and education Don Henson 43 5. Digital media in public archaeology Chiara Bonacchi 60 6. Presenting archaeological sites to the public Reuben Grima 73 7. The archaeological profession and human rights Samuel Hardy 93 8. The Treasure Act and Portable Antiquities Scheme in England and Wales Roger Bland, Michael Lewis, Daniel Pett, Ian Richardson, Katherine Robbins and Rob Webley 107 9. Alternative archaeologies Gabriel Moshenska 122 ix 10. Commercial archaeology in the UK: public interest, benefit and engagement Hilary Orange, Dominic Perring 138 11. Archaeologists in popular culture Gabriel Moshenska 151 12. Archaeology and nationalism Ulrike Sommer 166 13. The market for ancient art David W.J. Gill 187 References 201 Index 229 x CONTENTS List of figures and tables Figures 1.1 Some common types of public archaeology 6 2.1 Children from New Zion Temple church in Freedmen’s Town, Houston, learning to screen artefacts with university field- school students 18 2.2 Revealing the new information panel of a dry stone wall in Pispala, 2013 21 2.3 ‘Fishtank’ archaeology at Camden YAC Branch, London 23 2.4 2011– 12 Community Archaeology Training Placement beneficiary Hannah Baxter (standing, in hat) with participants at Heeley City Farm, Sheffield 27 2.5 Participants Martin and Liam recording a Rainford building in July 2013 29 6.1 Footpath leading to Grotta del Genovese, Levanzo, Egadi Islands 78 6.2 Villa del Tellaro, south- east Sicily 80 6.3 Valadier’s early nineteenth- century restoration of the Colosseum in Rome 84 6.4 A young visitor being introduced to archery in the courtyard of Bolton Castle, Yorkshire 88 8.1 Finds reported as Treasure Trove (1988– 97) and Treasure (since 1997) 110 8.2 Numbers of finds recorded on http:// finds.org.uk 115 10.1 Visitors to an open day being shown the post- built Saxon building 143 10.2 The capstone in position hovering over uprights on Midsummer Day 2014 147 12.1 Consecutive migrations into Europe from the East, according to J. Grimm (1846) 169 xi 12.2 The seven Hungarian Chieftains, Millenium Monument, by Albert Schickedanz and György Zala 1898– 1927, Hősök tere (Place of Heroes), Budapest 172 12.3 Possible reconstructions of the Obermeilen pile dwellings, based on ethnographic analogies (Keller 1854) 176 12.4 Kossinna, Weichselland (1919). The publication claims that the Vistula area (Polish since the Versailles treaty of 1919) is ‘age- old Germanic homesoil’. The illustration shows Bronze Age settlers working the fields and migrating further east 180 12.5 Vichy 1 franc coin, 1944. The obverse bears the motto of the Petain- regime, ‘work, family, fatherland’; the reverse shows the double axe of the Gaulish king Vercingetorix between two wheatsheaves 185 Tables 4.1 Archaeological correlations with Gardner’s multiple intelligences 48 4.2 Archaeological knowledge of the past 53 4.3 Archaeological knowledge related to the present 54 4.4 Archaeological enquiry skills 56 5.1 Types of research strategy 71 12.1 Typical pattern of origin myths, with the Romans, Mexica, Hebrews and Lombards as examples 167 xii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Notes on contributors Roger Bland was formerly Keeper of the Departments of Prehistory and Europe and Portable Antiquities and Treasure at the British Museum. Chiara Bonacchi is Co- Investigator Researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. Her research and teaching are in the areas of public archaeology and digital heritage. She has worked on projects in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and America, and is Coordinator of the UCL Archaeology, Media and Communication Research Network. Paul Burtenshaw received his PhD from the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. He has carried out economic impact and value assessments in Scotland and Jordan, and was a Research Fellow at the Council of British Research in the Levant, Amman, Jordan. He is now Director, Projects at the Sustainable Preservation Initiative. David Gill is Professor of Archaeological Heritage and Director of Heritage Futures at the University of Suffolk. Reuben Grima is a senior lecturer in the Department of Conservation and Built Heritage at the University of Malta, where he lectures in cultural her- itage management. Samuel Hardy is Adjunct Professor at the American University of Rome (AUR) and Honorary Research Associate at the UCL Institute of Archaeology. He focuses on the trafficking of antiquities from Cyprus and Syria, the his- tory of conflict antiquities trafficking around the world, and open- source analysis of illicit trade. Don Henson is an archaeologist who originally specialised in the study of prehistoric flint tools but eventually saw the light and moved into public archaeology and heritage education. He is now researching the narratives we create about prehistory, and realises the past is too important to be left to archaeologists. Michael Lewis is Head of Portable Antiquities and Treasure at the British Museum and has worked as part of the Portable Antiquities Scheme since xiii newgenprepdf 2000, first as Finds Liaison Officer for Kent. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and a Member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists. Gabriel Moshenska is Senior Lecturer in Public Archaeology at UCL Institute of Archaeology, where he researches and teaches across a range of topics including the history of archaeology, the public understanding of the past, and the archaeology and heritage of modern conflict. Daniel Pett is Senior Digital Humanities Manager at the British Museum, responsible for the Museum’s digital activity in the research arena. He was the architect of the Portable Antiquities database for twelve years, a system which has been the foundation upon which the Portable Antiquities Scheme is built. Ian Richardson is the Treasure Registrar in the department of Learning and National Partnerships at the British Museum.