Antiquities, archaeology and the public
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Antiquities, Archaeology and the Public Dr Helen Geake Finds Adviser (Post-Roman Artefacts) to the Portable Antiquities Scheme c/o McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge [email protected]
description
Talk for the Public and Popular History seminar at the University of Cambridge, 8th February 2011
Transcript of Antiquities, archaeology and the public
Antiquities, Archaeology and the Public
Dr Helen GeakeFinds Adviser (Post-Roman Artefacts) to the Portable Antiquities Scheme
c/o McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of [email protected]
• What are the secrets of their success?
• How have they changed people’s view of archaeology?
• What effect have they had on archaeology as a discipline?
PAS staff in post 1997
PAS staff in post 1999
Since 2003 we have recorded finds made by members of the public across the whole of England & Wales
The database on which the public’s finds are recorded
Our funder:
He’s looking for things
She isn’t
(Portable Antiquities and Treasure Annual Report 2007, p. 9)
Metal-detectorists are a skewed demographic
In a recent survey:
• 92.4% were male
• 93.5% were over 35 years old
The
Dai
ly M
ail,
Sep
tem
ber
25th
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9
The Crosby Garrett Roman helmet
How has the PAS changed people’s view of archaeology?
• Archaeology is all around us, not just on ‘sites’• Archaeologists are friendly and approachable
• BUT there’s a risk: that archaeology will be seen as being all about finds, and the more valuable the object (in monetary terms) the better
Time Team (1994 onwards)
Choosing the sites
Two things to balance:• a high chance of
finding archaeological evidence that you can film
• a good story to make a television programme about
Jim Mower, Development
Project Design for Castor, Peterborough (filmed 2010)
Schedule, Day 1 (Tottiford Reservoir, filmed 2010)
A script!
(from Llancaiach Fawr, a fortified manor house in south Wales – filmed 2010)
Some vain attempts to script the end of Day 3
It’s hard to know in advance what will be found
A camera crew
Sound man
CameramanCamera assistant
Director
Tim Taylor, Series Producer
Discussing what to do next at Sutton Courtenay Anglo-Saxon ‘palace’ site (filmed 2009)
Tim TaylorMick Aston
Victor Ambrus
From survey…
to digging…
to recording…
…Time Team projects are well-resourced, scholarly pieces of archaeological research
Challenge AnnekaBBC1, Saturday evenings 1989-1995
Changing Rooms BBC, 1996-2004
Ground Force BBC, 1997-2005
Assuming that a mass audience wants superficial content….
…is perhaps a snobbish and elitist position
Social pigeonholes
A Professional/senior managerial
B Middle managers/executives
C1 Junior managers/non-manual
C2 Skilled manual
D Semi-skilled/unskilled manual
E Unemployed/state dependents
The public face of the PAS
At a showIn the field
At a school
Television watching by social grade
Time Team in 2009 had an average of over 2m viewers
• What are the secrets of their success?
• How have they changed people’s view of archaeology?
• What effect have they had on archaeology as a discipline?
Quarry
Archaeology
(a Neolithic house)
David Starkey: • well washed• very clever• perhaps a bit forbidding
Phil Harding:• dirty but friendly
