Presenting Cultural Heritage in Urban Area

CALL FOR PAPERS

Chairs: Ingeborg GAISBAUER, Austria | Ann DEGRAEVE, Belgium

Archaeological work in an urban environment is inseparable linked with the responsibility if not the compulsion to “present” its results to a large and non-uniform multitude of laymen ranging from politicians to schoolchildren, from volunteering retirees to the persons living “next door” to an excavation site. The tools and strategies used to inform the interested citizen, to “visualize” and transport in ways of formal and informal learning are manifold and diverse – depending on monetary and personal potential. In equal measure the spectrum and range of the target audiences vary considerably.

What are for example the common ways of “advertising” and informing comprehensively to reach a potential audience to start with? How do we afford “to make contact”? In times of dwindling resources for advertising this is a problem that should not be underestimated.

How do we identify the audience? How do we adapt the form of the presentation to meet the interests of the anticipated target audience knowing that differing age groups and a wide range of social and cultural backgrounds make this task even more challenging.

And once the link between the archaeologist and layman is established: What are the strategies and aids to communicate excavation results – for example new approaches in settlement research and technological/functional changes of finds? The possibilities often range from “old-fashioned” guided tours to elaborate visualisation techniques. And finally, what kind of feedback do the archaeologists get and what is the benefit coming out of these public encounters?

The presentations in this session should therefore focus on inspiring examples of communication of excavation results towards a broader public where new communication technologies go hand in hand with the branding of the archaeological results and the archaeology as a whole.