The fifth part of the training: "Politicising archaeological heritage"

The fifth part of the course Politicising archaeological heritage was aimed at discussing a range of issues related to the presentation and popularising of archaeological heritage and communication with the general public at the site, through museums, schools, media, and the internet. All modules in this part explicitly focused upon strategies and methods of achieving these goals by a range different media. In particular, they discussed knowledge production ranging from digital field archaeology, visual representation, knowledge management, and the sociology of knowledge. It presented several projects that are concerned with the ways such processes operate in the context of archaeological information as a means of sharing diverse forms of knowledge with diverse communities. It discussed conceptions of knowledge as performance and the potential of the web as a contact zone, in which environments can be constructed that support the generation and representation of knowledge in, by, and for diverse communities.

The modules in this part stressed also the importance of communication with the public, methods of engagement, publicity and media relationships. Multimedia technology and the internet have marked a new era in the way archaeology is communicated to the public. Archaeology is undergoing a revolution, with both the presentation of the practical work and theoretical questions regarding what knowledge is communicated and how is the specialist community and the public engaged in this knowledge production and knowledge transfer. This last part of the training presented a case study of a ‘multimedia excavation’ that also served as a training ground for young heritage management and archaeology students. As such, it outlined how multimedia can be applied to excavating, analysing, processing and interpreting the past as well as communicating and popularising archaeology to the public.