The Use and Relevance of Archaeological Open-Air Museums

Archaeological open-air museums form a colourful and varied assemblage of heritage institutions. These are places where stories about the past, inspired by archaeology, are presented. Their obvious use is for experimental archaeology, ancient crafts and live interpretation. However, these museums ca...

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Main Author: Roeland Paardekooper
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EXARC 2020-02-01
Series:EXARC Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10482
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author Roeland Paardekooper
author_facet Roeland Paardekooper
author_sort Roeland Paardekooper
collection DOAJ
description Archaeological open-air museums form a colourful and varied assemblage of heritage institutions. These are places where stories about the past, inspired by archaeology, are presented. Their obvious use is for experimental archaeology, ancient crafts and live interpretation. However, these museums can be more relevant to society than meets the eye. They can teach newcomers about the past of their new habitation region; they can teach people fundamental learning in order to better cope with society and can show the big picture of environmental sustainability spanning millennia. Finally, archaeological open-air museums can teach their visitors a valuable lesson about political conscience and citizenship, including a debate on fake news. International cooperation is increasingly important for archaeological open-air museums and a necessity to survive and thrive. EXARC is an important network helping exactly with this. These museums need to improve, to believe in their strengths and unique selling points, and find new directions. A previous version of this article was published in German (Paardekooper, 2019).
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publishDate 2020-02-01
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spelling doaj-art-3e7c22ac937b40e69d8ed003f252e9d92025-08-20T03:44:38ZengEXARCEXARC Journal2212-89562020-02-012020/1ark:/88735/10482The Use and Relevance of Archaeological Open-Air MuseumsRoeland PaardekooperArchaeological open-air museums form a colourful and varied assemblage of heritage institutions. These are places where stories about the past, inspired by archaeology, are presented. Their obvious use is for experimental archaeology, ancient crafts and live interpretation. However, these museums can be more relevant to society than meets the eye. They can teach newcomers about the past of their new habitation region; they can teach people fundamental learning in order to better cope with society and can show the big picture of environmental sustainability spanning millennia. Finally, archaeological open-air museums can teach their visitors a valuable lesson about political conscience and citizenship, including a debate on fake news. International cooperation is increasingly important for archaeological open-air museums and a necessity to survive and thrive. EXARC is an important network helping exactly with this. These museums need to improve, to believe in their strengths and unique selling points, and find new directions. A previous version of this article was published in German (Paardekooper, 2019).https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10482archaeological open-air museumnewest era
spellingShingle Roeland Paardekooper
The Use and Relevance of Archaeological Open-Air Museums
EXARC Journal
archaeological open-air museum
newest era
title The Use and Relevance of Archaeological Open-Air Museums
title_full The Use and Relevance of Archaeological Open-Air Museums
title_fullStr The Use and Relevance of Archaeological Open-Air Museums
title_full_unstemmed The Use and Relevance of Archaeological Open-Air Museums
title_short The Use and Relevance of Archaeological Open-Air Museums
title_sort use and relevance of archaeological open air museums
topic archaeological open-air museum
newest era
url https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10482
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