Interpretations and Uses of the Past in Modern Britain and Europe. Why are People Interested in the Past? Do the Experts Know or Care? A Plea for Further Study

This chapter argues that professional archaeologists in Britain (both academic and field-based) do not take enough notice of the perceptions of the past held by the public. Drawing on information from a number of sources, including data gathered from a survey co-organized by the author, it argues that there are a number of potentially conflicting attitudes to the past held within contemporary Britain and mainland Europe, and that these differences can only be ignored to the detriment of archaeology as a discipline and, implicitly, to the actual physical archaeological heritage. The chapter further argues that the provision of school-based archaeological projects is one very important way of making archaeological material and ideas available to the public.