So, what is #pubarchMED about?
After gaining a postdoctoral fellowship from Xunta de Galicia this fall, I had the duty to start a personal project which will focus on archaeological heritage management in the Mediterranean. This fellowship based me at Incipit, CSIC (the Institute of Heritage Sciences at the Spanish National Research Council) and will make me travel a lot, starting with two placements at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL (in London, UK), and the Faculty of History and Archaeology, UoA (in Athens, Greece).
For the next three years I will be delving into the concept of public archaeology in relation to archaeological heritage management. This means, different issues will raise; identity, economic impact, public policy, etc. But I want to approach this topic from an ethnographic perspective, including the perception of management among professionals, and its direct relation to citizens and visitors (this is the shortest I can explain it). As a result, I hope to provide in depth analysis of the topic and a series of resources that might be useful for other colleagues that want to work on the topic, as well as for archaeological heritage managers in their duty, resulting in better outcomes and impacts for the public.
In order to do so, I will not be alone… and both my home base and my placements will provide a close colleague to work with. Then, let’s meet the team:
In 2019, thirty students from the University of the Peloponnese in Kalamata helped in the visitor study of Ancient Messene. Thanks. During 2020, in spite of the pandemic, a student from URJC joind for his practical and was of great help to advance in the project. Pedro Antonio Suárez López has been doing some great work for over six months and we have to thank him.
Along the next years I will be updating the blog and the resources page with all the news about this project… You can also follow it on my social media: Twitter & Instagram, always with the hashtag #pubarchMED
Welcome to the adventure!