Summer is a good moment for fieldwork, although in my case most of it is not really in the field doing ‘archaeology’.
What would you answer if I ask you what archaeology is? In delving into the perception of archaeological heritage management, this is still a very useful question we need to take into account, because it defines our priorities afterwards. If you think archaeology is mainly about the material culture, you are more likely to expect archaeological heritage management to focus on conservation (or that is my hypothesis). So, understanding professional attitudes towards archaeological heritage management can help shaping the future of the discipline in a way we are all happy with the outcomes. After all, there are so many tasks to conduct that the balance among the options is difficult with the resources allocated.
This month I have officially started the interviews for the project after several weeks of informal conversations. Little by little, the corpus of data colected will start to be a bit overwhelming, but it will be for a good reason. Although cualitative data is sometimes problematic, a good amount of interviews can define very clear trends and, what is more important for me, can identify common challenges for the management of archaeological heritage.
But I had a pending issue in my life… I had never been to Italy, and it was going to be one of the focus countries for the project. Therefor, I decided to take some short-but-intense holidays with a coupe of good friends to have a first contact with the country and start understanding it better before going any further (and yes, I also did a coupe of interviews during my holidays). I visited lots of places in the North-East of the country, and really fell in love with it… I am a Mediterranean.
But now, back to reality, is time to continue the daily work and also to get ready for the EAA, which will be again exciting (and in Barcelona!)
Probably see you there!