ISSN 1350-0775,
Museum International
(UNESCO, Paris), No. 198 (Vol. 50, No. 2,1998)© UNESCO 1998Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JF (UK) and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148 (USA)
Editorial
On 26 November 1922 the archaeologist Howard Carter lived what he later called ‘the dayof days, the most wonderful that I have ever lived through’. Standing before the sealeddoor of the long-lost tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, he made a smallopening and peered through it. When asked if he could see anything Carter replied, ‘Yes,wonderful things.’ He was, as he described, ‘dumbstruck with amazement . . . as my eyesgrew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist,strange animals, statues and gold – everywhere the glint of gold.’
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The story of Carter’s opening of Tutankhamen’s tomb has passed into legend, illustratinghow the archaeologist’s discovery of the past thrills and fascinates us today. Schliemann’sunearthing of Troy, Bingham’s find of Machu Picchu, the exploit of four adolescent boys whostumbled on the French cave of Lascaux and so on: the list is long of the fabled remains thatarchaeology has brought to light, firing our imagination and creating an ongoing dialoguewith the past. Yet this dialogue is complex and not without contradictions, for the clues, thekeys to unlocking the secrets of ancient worlds, reside in the present and in those vestigesthat have survived the vagaries of time; we cannot know what has been irretrievably lostwhich might shed a different light on what has remained.But archaeology is nothing if not a lesson in resourcefulness, imagination and theadaptation of science and technology to its own ends. Aerial photography, carbon dating,pollen anaysis, satellite imagery and computer simulation, are but a few of the advancesthat have helped transform the archaeologist’s work. Biology, botany, chemistry, geology,history, psychology and art are but some of the disciplines that come into play.The success of archaeology in capturing the public’s interest has, however, created newchallenges: the need for greater involvement of environmental specialists in excavationand field-work; the effects of mass tourism and the establishment of that delicate balancebetween the public’s right of access to its cultural heritage and the well-being and verysurvival of that heritage; the shift from a traditionally male-oriented interpretation andemphasis on so-called masculine activities – hunting, toolmaking – to a broader view of how ancient societies may have functioned; a new awareness and sensitivity to the viewsof indigenous peoples; a heightened concern with looting and illicit trade in archaeologi-cal finds, to name but a few.
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What, then, is the role of the site museum, that repository of fragments, artefacts and objects
in situ
in their age-old context? How can it preserve, protect and above all make meaningfulthe often random finds that could reconstruct past ways of life and illuminate the processesthat underlie and condition human behaviour? Again, the issues are complex, for they touchon questions of politics and ethics, history and self-image, which can in no way be wholly‘scientific’ or objective, and which make clear that, in the last analysis, archaeology is no moreand no less than ‘a critical contemporary discussion of the past.’
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UNESCO has long been concerned with this subject; indeed, one of the Organization’searly normative instruments was the Recommendation on International PrinciplesApplicable to Archaeological Excavations, adopted in December 1956, which specificallymentions the need for site museums. We thus wished to look at both the broader issuesnow involved and the specific ways in which museums are confronting them. Ourprofound thanks go to Rachel Hachlili, professor in the department of Archaeology andMuseum Studies at the University of Haifa (Israel), who helped co-ordinate this specialdossier. Her breadth of knowledge, vision and enthusiasm were invaluable. ML
Notes
1. Arnold C. Brackman,
The Search for the Gold of Tutankhamen,
New York, Simon & Schuster, 1976.2. Paul G. Bahn (ed.),
The Cambridge Illustrated History of Archaeology,
Cambridge University Press,1996.3. Ibid.
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