The summer is the time for archaeological excavations. Every year, thousands of excavations are taking place all over Europe and beyond. A very large proportion of them are rescue archaeology, i.e. projects that aim at rescuing information from ancient sites before they get destroyed through development. In most Western countries, developers are required by law to pay for the costs of these excavations. Professional archaeology has previously been a field that defined itself nearly exclusively in narrow academic terms. But whenever unfavourable public finances and economic growth curves reach crisis point professional archaeologists have been coming under pressure to justify what they are doing for society so that tax-payers or customers really need to pay the bills for it.

The process of ”opening up” archaeology to take into account broader social contexts has, however, not only been forced upon the subject from the outside. A quickly expanding interest in a wide range of issues and phenomena that have come to be known as ”public archaeology” is fundamentally transforming even the academic discipline itself (Merriman 2002). For example, a few years ago, a new academic journal called Public Archaeology was founded with the express purpose ”to analyse and report on archaeological and heritage issues which relate to the wider world of politics, ethics, government, social questions, education, management, economics and philosophy”. All these elements taken together describe the field within which professonial archaeology is operating today.

The portrayal of archaeology in popular culture is a topic born out of that same opening process of the discipline of archaeology, manifesting the trend towards a truly public archaeology. It is not surprising that others too have found the contemporary image of the archaeologist an interesting field of study. For example, a group of archaeology students at Humboldt University in Berlin conducted extensive research about ”Indy, Lara and Hercule – how the media determine the image of the archaeologist” (Felder et al 2003). Their results were presented in an exhibition shown in their university (13 March – 3 April 2003). A wide range of topical examples from fictional literature, movies, and computer games, was thoroughly analysed and categorised. Among other topics, the group considered the discrepancy between the depiction of archaeology and its reality, and asked whether actual archaeological practice influenced the existing clichés and to which extent those determine the public expectations of professional archaeology.

Elsewhere, another group of students prepared an exhibition entitled ”From Heinrich Schliemann to Lara Croft. The Fascination of the Past” which was shown in Freiburg’s University Library (20 May –18 June 2003):

’The past? That exists only in history book anyway!’ – ’False!’, say those responsible for this exhibition. In fact, we encounter the past in many realms of our lives in which we may not suspect it. Whether in TV, in advertisements or while shopping: we come across the relics of ancient peoples everywhere… This is similar in relation to the discipline of Archaeology. It does not only supply us with these witnesses of the past but in recent years, it has also attracted increasing interest among the media. This exhibition is intended to demonstrate that archaeologists are not dealing with periods that are long past and far removed from us – in other words, periods that do not need to mean anything to us. Quite the opposite: the relics of various different, lost civilizations are more present and have a larger impact today than ever before.

My own two-year long investigations about the portrayal of archaeology in contemporary popular culture were conducted as part of a larger research focus on ”Archaeology in Society” which the Swedish National Heritage Board devoted particular attention to over recent years. One of its main aims has been to adapt the practice of Swedish cultural heritage management to changing social conditions, by re-evaluating its practices and seeking out new opportunities.

A path-breaking initiative carried out across the entire Swedish heritage sector over three years fits into this context, too. Entitled Agenda Kulturarv (best translated as Operation Heritage), this grand project was about putting the social significance of the cultural heritage on the agenda of a broad discussion between many stake-holders within the Swedish heritage sector. Its aim was to refine professional practice in order to make the most of people’s interest in the past and the cultural heritage and to make the work of the professionals accessible and relevant to them. The manifesto that resulted from the project (Agenda Kulturarv 2004) resolved that all people in society should be enabled and encouraged to draw on the power of archaeological sites, as a part of the cultural heritage more generally. That power was said to be twofold. Stories about the past told in relation to the heritage could (a) broaden peoples’ perspectives on the present, and (b) create familiar surroundings that make people at home. As far as historical perspectives on the present are concerned, I imagine that they could be based either on actual hard knowledge about the laws, patterns or trends of history, or on softer insights about the variety of different human realities. The question is, however, how much archaeological research, focussing on inconclusive evidence about limited aspects of societies that existed a long time ago, can really contribute to any such results.

The fact that many people state, when asked, that they are interested in the past, find archaeology exciting and enjoy visiting excavations (see chapter 4) is not really helpful in deciding the question about the social benefits gained from archaeology. After all, Erich von Däniken’s new theme park in Switzerland, called Mystery Park, and his numerous books about archaeological topics have been extremely popular too (see chapter 5). I am inclined to concur with Gavin Lucas (2004: 119) who argued that insofar as archaeology enhances people’s lives and society in general, its major impact might be said to lie in popular culture rather than in any noble vision of improving self-awareness through ”historical perspectives”. What this actually means, is the topic of the present book.

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