The Concept of ‘the Public’ and the Aims of Public Archaeology

Abstract

Public archaeology emerged in the 1970s, departing from the traditional view of archaeology by looking outside the academic discipline and the social framework and structures underpinning archaeology. Although it is essential to define clearly 'the public' in considering the aims of public archaeology, there seem to be two different concepts of 'the public': one associated with the state and another with the people, though both are used interchangeably. In order to overcome this difference, Habermas' idea of the public sphere is considered, since it may potentially encourage 'private' non-archaeologists to engage in an open, democratic debate about archaeology. If public archaeology is to strive for the realisa-tion of an 'archaeology for the public', its aim should be to create an open, participatory and rational-critical debate, which is presumably the only way to integrate public opinions into decisions about archaeology. Although managing this debate would not be easy, a case study explores how archaeologists might do so. Introduction Public archaeology has grown gradually and steadily since the 1970s, and as a result there are today a number of academic institutions offering undergraduate and postgraduate courses specialising in this area, a wide range of associated literature and even a periodical entitled Public Archaeology. Despite this growth, it seems that the objectives, scope and methodology of public archaeology are not understood equally among archaeologists. This can partly be explained by the wide scope of the discipline, but public archaeology has also failed to articulate what is meant by 'the public'. This paper delves into the different concepts of 'the public' employed by public archaeology, and in doing so, considers its aims. In defining a theoretical basis for public archaeology , this paper explores ways in which the concept of a public sphere can be applied in practice.