Museums and Archaeology

Museums and Archaeology brings together a wide, but carefully chosen, selection of literature from around the world that connects museums and archaeology. Part of the successful Leicester Readers in Museum Studies series, it provides a combination of issue- and practice-based perspectives. As such, it is a volume not only for students and researchers from a range of disciplines interested in museum, gallery and heritage studies, including public archaeology and cultural resource management (CRM), but also the wide range of professionals and volunteers in the museum and heritage sector who work with archaeological collections. The volume’s balance of theory and practice and its thematic and geographical breadth is explored and explained in an extended introduction, which situates the readings in the context of the extensive literature on museum archaeology, highlighting the many tensions that exist between idealistic ‘principles’ and real-life ‘practice’ and the debates that surround these. In addition to this, section introductions and the seminal pieces themselves provide a comprehensive and contextualised resource on the interplay of museums and archaeology.

1. Museums and archaeology: principles, practice and debatesROBIN SKEATES PART ONE: ARCHAEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS Introduction to Part OneROBIN SKEATES 2. Managing curated collections: the basicsLYNNE P. SULLIVAN AND S. TERRY CHILDS 3. Archaeological curation in the 21st century. Or, making sure the roof doesn’t blow offWENDY BUSTARD 4. Primal fear: deaccessioning collectionsROBERT C. SONDERMAN 5. Archaeological archives: serving the public interest?NICK MERRIMAN AND HEDLEY SWAIN 6. Archaeological archives in Britain and the development of the London Archaeological Archive and Research CentreHEDLEY SWAIN 7. Inventory and global management in archaeology: the example of the Neuchâtel MuseumMARIE-ODILE VAUDOU 8. Issues in practice: conservation proceduresELIZABETH PYE 9. Caring for an Egyptian mummy and coffinLAURA S. PHILLIPS AND LINDA ROUNDHILL 10. Gristhorpe Man: an Early Bronze Age log-coffin burial scientifically definedNIGEL MELTON, JANET MONTGOMERY, CHRISTOPHER J. KNÜSEL, CATHY BATT, STUART NEEDHAM, MIKE PARKER PEARSON, ALISON SHERIDAN, CARL HERON, TIM HORSLEY, ARMIN SCHMIDT, ADRIAN EVANS, ELIZABETH CARTER, HOWELL EDWARDS, MICHAEL HARGREAVES, ROB JANAWAY, NIELS LYNNERUP, PETER NORTHOVER, SONIA O'CONNOR, ALAN OGDEN, TIMOTHY TAYLOR, VAUGHAN WASTLING AND ANDREW WILSON 11. History and surface condition of the Lewis Chessmen in the collection of the National Museums Scotland (Hebrides, late 12th–early 13th centuries)JIM TATE, INA REICHE, FLAVIA PINZARI, JANE CLARK AND DAVID CALDWELL PART TWO: ARCHAEOLOGY, ETHICS AND THE LAW Introduction to Part TwoROBIN SKEATES 12. From museum to mantelpiece: the antiquities trade in the United KingdomKATHRYN WALKER TUBB AND NEIL BRODIE 13. The revolution in U.S. museums concerning the ethics of acquiring antiquitiesJENNIFER ANGLIM KREDER 14. Repatriation: Australian perspectivesMICHAEL GREEN AND PHIL GORDON 15. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in its first decadeJAMES A.R. NAFZIGER AND REBECCA J. DOBKINS 16. Policy and practice in the treatment of archaeological human remains in North American museum and public agency collectionsFRANCIS P. MCMANAMON 17. Covering up the mummiesTIFFANY JENKINS PART THREE:INTERPRETING THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PAST Introduction to Part ThreeROBIN SKEATES 18. Presenting the past: towards a redemptive aesthetic for the museumMICHAEL SHANKS AND CHRISTOPHER TILLEY 19. Speaking for the past in the present: text, authority and learning in archaeology museumsROBIN SKEATES 20. Towards presenting scientific research in archaeology museumsMARK S. COPLEY 21. Prehistory, identity, and archaeological representation in Nordic museumsJANET E. LEVY 22. Is it enough to make the main characters female? An intersectional and social semiotic reading of the exhibition Prehistories 1 at the National Historical Museum in Stockholm, SwedenANNIKA BÜNZ 23. The Jorvik Viking Centre: an experiment in archaeological site interpretationPETER ADDYMAN AND ANTHONY GAYNOR 24. The new Museum of Altamira: finding solutions to tourism pressureJOSÉ ANTONIO LASHERAS CORRUCHAGA AND PILAR FATÁS MONFORTE 25. Archaeological site museums in Latin AmericaHELAINE SILVERMAN 26. The new Acropolis Museum: where the visual feast trumps educationKATIE RASK 27. Development and utilization of underground space for the protection of relics in the Yang Emperor Mausoleum of the Han DynastyZHILONG CHEN, PING ZHANG AND JUXI LI 28. The Port Royal Project: a case study in the use of VR technology for the recontextualization of archaeological artifacts and building remains in a museum settingHARRY HELLING, CHARLIE STEINMETZ, ERIC SOLOMON AND BERNARD FRISCHER 29. Teaching the past in museumsJOANNE LEA 30. Interaction or tokenism? The role of hands-on activities in museum archaeology displaysJANET OWEN 31. The re-display of the Alexander Keiller Museum, Avebury, and the National Curriculum in EnglandPETER G. STONE 32. Roman boxes for London's schools: an outreach service by the Museum of LondonJENNY HALL AND HEDLEY SWAIN 33. Translating archaeology for the public: empowering and engaging museum goers with the pastALEXANDRA A. CHAN 34. Involving the public in museum archaeologyNICK MERRIMAN 35. Public archaeology and museums in JapanDEVENA HAGGIS 36. Uncovering ancient Egypt: the Petrie Museum and its publicSALLY MACDONALD AND CATHERINE SHAW 37. Re-imagining Egypt: artefacts, contemporary art and community engagement in the museumGEMMA TULLY 38. Working towards greater equity and understanding: examples of collaborative archaeology and museum initiatives with Indigenous peoples in North AmericaSARAH CARR-LOCKE AND GEORGE NICHOLAS 39. Conversations about the production of archaeological knowledge and community museums at Chunchucmil and Kochol, Yucatán, MéxicoTRACI ARDREN 40. Us and them: who benefits from experimental exhibition making?PETE BROWN

Robin Skeates is Professor in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University in the UK. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2005, and has served as General Editor of the European Journal of Archaeology since 2010.