In the beginning… (Diary, day 1)

This blog will serve as a diary of the work on #pubarchMED ARQUEOLOGÍA PÚBLICA EN EL CONTEXTO MEDITERRÁNEO (Public archaeology in the Mediterranean context), a project I (Jaime Almansa-Sánchez) am starting for the postdoctoral contract I just got from Xunta de Galicia at Incipit, CSIC (Institute of Heritage Sciences, Spanish National Research Council). Although the aim will be to end up doing things in Galego (the local language), the fact I have to be two years abroad (London and Athens) and the project is about an international approach to management, made me decide to write in English, at least most of the posts. Will try to be a bit more multilingual in social media and publications… to come in the near future.

Why #pubarchMED as a name? As you probably know if you follow public archaeology in social media, #pubarch is the common hashtag used for debates in Twitter. As I did not want to start new social media for the project, I thought following the news on my own profiles with a hashtag could be a good idea, and the name was clear enough to be followed. Therefore, have a look at my Facebook page, my Twitter profile and my Instagram account, for further contents (always with the hashtag).

But what is the project about?

As the name indicates, it will be dealing with public archaeology in the Mediterranean context, with a close look at archaeological heritage management. The countries in green (see map above) will be the main focus, while those in orange and red will also be addressed in a lighter way. As you can see in the map, there are some countries (in red) which are not strictly Mediterranean (Portugal, Andorra, Serbia, FYROM, Bulgaria and Jordan), but I found interesting to include them in the list once I’m on it. The details of what I will be doing in each country will come later on, but it has to do with understanding the way archaeology is managed, how we perceive this management, but mainly, how it affects social, political and economic relations in a local, regional, national and international context. From legislation to the image of archaeology, many issues will raise, willing to contribute to the wider debate on public archaeology and the wellbeing in the region through new policies and best practices (yeah, I am that daring). In order to do it, I will not be alone, so let’s meet the team:

• Jaime Almansa-Sánchez (Me): After several years as a freelance of my company, JAS Arqueología, finishing my PhD opened up opportunities such as  working for Incipit through this new project. Follow my work in Academia.edu or myself in the social media mentioned above.
• David Barreiro (CSIC): Also in Incipit, David is a good friend and professional with a long experience in archaeology and heritage. He will be my home-link and will share more than this project for sure. You can follow his Academia.edu profile, and Incipit‘s repository for many interesting works.
• Chiara Bonacchi (UCL): Chiara is currently at the Institute of Archaeology at UCL (London), she is a reference for Italian public archaeology and also for digital heritage. She is hosting me at UCL and will be of great value during the project. Follow her too in Academia.edu for more.
• Dimitris Plantzos (UoA): Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Athens, Dimitris will host me in Greece for the second placement of this project and also be of great value for it. He has highly interesting works on the image of the classical past and the politics of heritage management. See his Academia.edu too.

So, welcome to the blog and hope to see you around sometimes.