Since the 1990s, public television archaeology in Germany has been influenced a great deal by the work of a single person and her collaborators: the writer Gisela Graichen. Her most significant TV series and subsequent book publications were C 14 – Advances into the Past: Archaeological Discoveries in Germany (several series, broadcast since 1992) and later Schliemann’s Heirs (several series, broadcast since 1996).

C 14 was the first ever dedicated TV series about archaeology in Germany. In each 30-minutes long episode, several short reports about different archaeological projects were presented. The featured sites were chosen in close co-operation with the various state archaeology services in Germany. At least two of the associated books also contained prefaces by Dieter Planck, then President of the Association of German State Archaeologists. Possibly as a side-effect of the cooperation with official bodies which is typical for the work of Graichen, the TV series was awarded the German Prize for Heritage Preservation.

The C 14 series effectively married ordinary state archaeology and its high-tec methodologies with existing popular stereotypes of archaeology emphasising exciting quests for historical treasures and revelations by scientists about secrets of the past. Up to 1,7 million viewers turned on their television sets for each episode, corresponding to around 10% of the vital adult market (14-49 years old). Graichen demonstrated in this series that she understands that selling archaeological research works best by emphasising gold and treasures, even if this cliché needs to be modified somewhat now (see also Graichen 1995: 11). She explained once (Graichen 1999: 17, my translation) that:

today, the adventure of archaeology consists not – only – in finding gold treasures. The treasure consists of the insights which high-tech methods can deliver about our past.

This approach was continued in Schliemann’s Heirs, where already the title referred to the best-known stereotypical archaeologist in Germany. The name of Heinrich Schliemann evokes, still, a range of colourful associations about digs in foreign places, re-discovering lost empires, hidden golden treasures – and the eventual rewards of persisting with a controversial quest against much scholarly opposition and many practical obstacles. It was hardly surprising then that this series managed to attract regularly an even larger audience of around 5 million viewers or around 15% overall market share (again 10% of adult market). Schliemann’s Heirs broadened out from archaeology in Germany and now embraced German projects carried out abroad. After all, Graichen (1993: 14, my translation) knows that ”the search for the traces of the past is more likely to be touched by a sense of adventure when history is more distant from us – both in time and space.” Again, the German film maker secured the support of the relevant state institution, in this case the German Archaeological Institute which is financed by the German Foreign Ministry.

The approach towards archaeology taken in all these films is well illustrated by some book and chapter titles of the accompanying publications: Treasure hunters in Germany; Schliemann’s heirs and the message of the lost cities; Angkor, the Atlantis in the jungle. Graichen makes frequently explicit references to the Indiana Jones archaeological stereotype. For example, two chapter titles in one of the accompanying books (Graichen & Hillrichs 1999) refer to the German title of Raiders of the Lost Ark (Jäger des verlorenen Schatzes): Der Jäger des vergrabenen Schatzes and Das Tal des verlorenen Baches.

Figure 3.1

Graichen’s TV programmes and associated book publications have grown out of a tradition of depicting the life and work of scientist/adventurers on their explorations. That tradition is not restricted to Germany but it has been particularly popular there, even over recent decades (Stern 2002). Immediately after World War II, C. W. Ceram (1980) wrote his ”fact-based archaeological novel” in this broad genre, as did later followers such as Philipp Vandenberg and Rudolf Drößler. On the television screen, I remember watching throughout my childhood numerous episodes of a series entitled Countries, Humans, Adventures (Länder, Menschen, Abenteuer) about people in exotic places around the world, their cultures and ancient monuments, and attempts by anthropologists, archaeologists and others to find out more about them. Amasingly, after more than 400 episodes since 1975, this series is still running. Since 1982, the rival public TV station (ZDF) in Germany produced a series called Terra X, adopting a similar general format. It likewise became very popular, attracting similar viewer numbers as Schliemann’s Heirs, and is still running. Various sorts of documentaries such as Terra X are currently shown under the label ZDF Expedition. The ZDF homepage for archaeology can be found following along the online tree Knowing & Discovering > History & Adventure > Archaeology. The words used in all these titles are of course not coincidental but characteristical for what I will come to call (in chapter 5) ”the A theme”.

Although German TV occasionally also broadcasts documentaries about archaeological rescue excavations within Germany itself, archaeology is still often portrayed within that mindscape of exotic place – exciting adventure – spectacular discovery. The image of the archaeologist in Germany is often a mixture of Schliemann, Carter and Indiana Jones – they are ”exotic beings” carrying out exotic work (Schmidt 2000: 241; see also Stern and Tode 2002). When the first series of C 14 was being broadcast even Graichen and her professional friends had been surprised about the large interest the archaeological site ”Germany” attracted among wide sections of the population.

Forward to Sweden: Göran Burenhult’s exotic explorations

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