What is Public Archaeology?

Abstract

In the ten years since Schadla-Hall’s (1999) outline of the subject, public archaeology has become firmly established as the focus of books, university courses, academic research and a dedicated journal.  Nevertheless there is still a degree of uncertainty about the precise definition and delineation of public archaeology.  In this short paper I outline my personal perspective of public archaeology as a practice of disciplinary critique focusing on the production and consumption of what I have termed archaeological ‘commodities’.