ABSTRACT

Introduction Museums are a significant and powerful vehicle for the public construction of the past and for public involvement in archaeology. For much of their history, archaeological museums have been relatively inward-looking and have tended to serve the needs of the academic discipline of archaeology over and above the needs of the wider public. In recent years, however, museums in general in the UK have begun to open themselves up to enjoyment and participation by a wider range of people and have begun to play a stronger role in contemporary society. Archaeological museums are taking part in this shift towards a focus on the visitor, with the keynotes being on access, active participation and even on tackling social exclusion.1 In this paper, I shall explore some of the initiatives that are being undertaken in the UK, and argue that some of them represent a new way forward for a more publicly oriented concept of archaeology as a discipline which balances the former over-emphasis on the needs of the academic community and ‘posterity’.