Editorial: 2021, a new decade starts

We have just celebrated ten years of open access public archaeology, and now we carry on with our venture. Volume 11 brings with it a new layout and format, as well as a new timing for publication. Since our inclusion in Scopus, improving quality goes in hand with the improvement of publication time. This is why, from now on (although this year is still a transitional period), volumes will open in January and close in October, with articles being published when they are ready. We are also starting a new section for shorter articles, aimed at the reporting of projects or ideas with a more formal format than our section Points of You, which will continue to retain its op-ed style. Of course, the philosophy does not change. We want to continue to be an opportunity of wider accessibility for authors and readers, and to continue exploring the physical and thematic frontiers of the discipline.

Public Archaeology in Poland: State of the Art and Future Directions

This article aims to conceptualize the present state of public archaeology in Poland, which has recently become topical in archaeological practice. The author defines public archaeology and discusses the historical background of such activities in the context of the specific traditions of Polish archaeology. He then describes the main forms of outreach activities undertaken by archaeologists in Poland and presents community-oriented initiatives that go beyond the education of the general public about the past and strive to engage local communities in activities focused on archaeology and archaeological heritage. He concludes by outlining some directions that this sub-discipline may adopt in future.

Public Archaeology and Museum: A Humanistic Education

ABSTRACT In recent years, museum education has become a popular way, not only the various public education activities of the museum, but also the opening of archaeological sites for public participation. And this kind of education not only improves the humanities education, but also improves the degree of public participation in archaeology, making archaeology public. In this context, explore the possibility of collaboration between public archaeology and museums, and the diversity of humanistic education. KEYWORDS: public archaeology, museum education, humanities education, educational diversity, archaeological teaching methods

Public Archaeology in Nepal: Now and in the next 10 years

In Nepal – and perhaps true in other South Asian countries as well, the term ‘public archaeology’ is not very frequently used among heritage professionals. Though it exists in limited use, largely the heritage practice including archaeology in Nepal is experts or authority driven. Perhaps the primary reason for this is the lack of a critical mass of archaeologists and broader heritage practitioners as well as a general lack of awareness among the public. There are disciplinary crisis situations prevalent across heritage related studies and practice areas in Nepal. However, with the increasing landscape of academic programmes and professional awareness among younger generations, we can be hopeful. Hence, I would expect that we will be able to create sufficient interests among students and younger professionals towards archaeology and heritage.

Dealing with a hangover of Public Archaeology: Scattered thoughts on the Italian ‘Archeologia Pubblica’

Public Archaeology is a young discipline, we all know that. It’s even younger in Italy, where public archaeology has not even reached ‘adulthood’. Cited for the first time by Armando De Guio in 2000 (De Guio and Bressan 2000), it was only a decade later that Public Archaeology has started to become ‘a thing’, thanks to some pioneering experiences at the University of Florence (Bonacchi 2009; Vannini 2011), and especially after a national conference in 2012 (in Florence: see Zuanni 2013 for a summary). Italian archaeologists’ first reaction was to overlap the new discipline with the experiences already in place, which in Italy were under the category of ‘valorizzazione’ (enhancement). They were not exactly the same: while Public Archaeology is characterised by a reflection on the objectives of the research from the very start, a focus on having a reliable methodology, and a strong element linked to evaluation, ‘enhancement’ experiences – while often valuable and successful – lacked the same structure and reliability. This is probably due to an underestimation of these practices as a scientific topic, thus deserving the same structure required for any other type of research. Often this resulted in a mere description of the activities carried out, with a generic objective like ‘increasing the knowledge of archaeology in the public sphere’ without really evaluating if the activities worked or not. Public Archaeology became a sort of a trendy subject, outdating the term ‘valorizzazione’, at least in most of the university milieu, and creating confusion on the subject and the methodology. This sometimes has led to a sort of ‘hangover’ effect, similar to what happens with summer songs: they sound fun when you first hear them, but after months you just want to move on! Few doctoral theses awarded in Archaeology have been devoted to topics related to Public Archaeology up to the present date and the risk is that after this ‘hangover’ the subject will be penalised in comparison to others.

Indigenous views on the future of public archaeology in Australia

This paper was written in response to a request by the editors of the AP: Online Journal of Public Archaeology, Jaime Almansa Sánchez and Elena Papagiannopoulou, for Claire Smith to write on the future of public archaeology in Australia. In Australia, public archaeology focusses on high profile colonial sites such as The Rocks in Sydney (Karskens 1999) and Port Arthur in Tasmania (Steele et al. 2007; Frew 2012), tourism (e.g. Cole and Wallis 2019) or enhancing school curricula (Nichols et al. 2005; Owens and Steele 2005). However, given her decades-long relationships with Jawoyn and Ngadjuri people (Smith 1999; Smith et al. 2016; Smith et al. 2020), Claire Smith decided that a useful way of approaching this topic would be to obtain Indigenous views on the subject. Accordingly, she contacted the Aboriginal co-authors of this article and invited them to co-author the paper. The possibility to write in free form was a boon. The ‘conversation’ format we settled on was designed to facilitate the voices of individuals, to present a range of Indigenous views, to allow people to express their views frankly, and to deal with the constraints of people being located in different parts of Australia as well as occasional lock-downs due to COVID-19. We decided on five topics/questions that would be the basis of the conversation. Each Aboriginal author gave their views either by email or by phone. These views were interwoven into a ‘conversation’. The language has been edited lightly for clarity and to simulate a real-life conversation. The final text was approved by all authors.

Public Archaeology: the loss of innocence

In 1973, David Clarke’s seminal article ‘Archaeology: the loss of innocence’ appeared in Antiquity, to herald, epitomise, and articulate a paradigm shift that was reshaping the entire discipline of archaeology as it embraced new tools, methods, and theories. The present short contribution is immeasurably more modest in scope, and only borrows Clarke’s title in homage to his lasting influence. It will argue that the specific domain of action and encounter that we gather under the rubric of Public Archaeology is itself on the cusp of undergoing a ‘loss of innocence’ of a different kind. For the purpose of this conversation, Public Archaeology will be understood in its widest possible sense, to embrace the way people anywhere may relate to the past, and the influence that the past and attitudes to the past may have on the lives of people today. It will consider some of the impacts and consequences of the internet and the World Wide Web, which of course deserve a much more thorough discussion than is possible here, and which should be read as a shorthand for some of the wider sea changes that we are witnessing.