Talking People

From Community to Popular Archaeologies

Abstract

One issue that in recent years has become more important to all archaeologists are the relations between professional archaeology and "the public" at large. A new archaeological sub-discipline has emerged that deals with all such issues using the shorthand phrase of "public archaeology". This paper addresses some aspects of public archaeology, by focusing on both community and popular archaeologies. We argue that contract archaeology should be opened up for public involvement and that archaeologists should to some extent ride on the wave of their own popularity. We believe that, in the future, archaeology will largely have to be concerned with the present rather than the past. This is a shift in focus, from stories about the past told in the present to stories about the present referring to the past. In our opinion, future archaeology must work most closely with the pre-understandings of the public and their expectations of archaeology.