Archaeological Open-Air Museum

Keltenhof Mackenzell (DE)

Member of EXARC
No

In 1998, archaeologists discovered a Hallstatt settlement in the Mackzell suburb of Hünfeld in East Hessen. The settlement dated to 700-800 BC and was excavated in the years 2000-2001.

The excavated houses were very diverse in ways of construction but relatively small. Even the main building was under 10 metres. This was a farmer’s settlement with the occasional home-made pottery. The finds are exhibited at the Konrad-Zuse Museum in Hünfeld.

Duncarron Medieval Village (UK)

Member of EXARC
No

It started life as a drawing scribbled on a beermat. An image of a museum without glass display cabinets, without boundaries. A museum with fully interactive exhibits that would teach about Scotland’s past.

Fifteen years later that drawing is becoming a reality as Duncarron a fully fortified Medieval Village situated beside the Carron Valley Reservoir and the men sitting around the table that night have become a recognised charity, The Clanranald Trust for Scotland (The Trust).

Pueblito (CO)

Member of EXARC
No

The Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona is situated in the Colombian northern Caribbean region 34 km from Santa Marta. After walking for at least an hour, climbing large rocks and bypassing some natural traps that the passage of time has left on the trail, you come to this small archaeological town called Pueblito.

Pueblito is an ancient indigenous settlement of the Chairama with both ruins and reconstructions of dwellings, canals, stairs, bridges, terraces, dry walls and drainage systems. Archaeologists estimate that this town was developed in an area of about four square kilometres. In the central part there are about 400 houses, and for all its extension are calculated more than a thousand, which could house about 4,000 inhabitants.

Keltendorf Sünna (DE)

Member of EXARC
No

The Rhön Mountains are a group of low mountains in central Germany. Around 600 BC, tops of hills and mountains were fortified. One of these settlements was found at the Öchsenberg.

This top was the most northern in the Rhön Area and therefore from high strategic importance. Archaeological finds show how much this settlement was used in the Iron Age.
In 2003, tourism experts from the Thüringer Rhön came with the idea of setting up a Celtic Village. The already existing Keltenhotel was an ideal starting point. Construction work at the Öchsenberg started in 2004. When the village opened in August 2006, it consisted of an infocentre as well as:
- A gatehouse with a defensive tower and wooden palisades to enclose the area

Nakubi Grafhorn (DE)

Member of EXARC
No

Close to Hannover, one can find the natural and cultural education centre and Nature Friend’s House Grafhorn. It consists of a modern education centre combined with an Iron Age like house complex with garden and indoor exhibition.

The place was built up with consultation by the Landesmuseum in Hannover. The idea for bringing this Iron Age site to life came from an excavation from the 1980s at Grafhorn. Finds included a pit house and plank house which surface was a bit below ground level. In the nearby area, more Iron Age finds were known including chains, knives, an axe, traces of iron production or iron forging and burial urns. Charcoal production sites as well as grave mounds are visible in the landscape today.

Römermuseum Schwarzenacker (DE)

Member of EXARC
No

We write the year 275/276 AD. The flames go out, the smoke is distorted, the excited shouting ebbs. Silence in Schwarzenacker following the invasion by the Alemanic People. Gradually, the extent is visible: the trading city, founded under Emperor Augustus, lies in rubble and ashes.

Some houses and cellar vaults have survived the onslaught. The floor plan of an Italo-Roman city can be seen until today. Although in the years after the destruction Schwarzenacker was re-populated and rebuilt - the former splendour and the sub-regional importance as a commercial and administrative centre was gone.

Tervetes Koka Pils (LV)

Member of EXARC
No

The Tērvete archaeological complex includes four mounds, ruins of a castle, an ancient town and a medieval cemetery. Archaeological excavations were carried out in the 1950s and 60s.

The Tērvete archaeological complex includes four mounds, ruins of a castle, an ancient town and a medieval cemetery. Archaeological excavations were carried out in the 1950s and 60s.

Erve Eme (NL)

Member of EXARC
Yes

At Erve Eme we bring back the past using re-enactment and living history. Our goal is to stimulate the (educational) interest in the local and regional history and development of human society in relation to the natural environment.

At Erve Eme we bring back the past using re-enactment and living history. Our goal is to stimulate the (educational) interest in the local and regional history and development of human society in relation to the natural environment...

Museums as Good Places

Author(s)
David Anderson 1
Publication Date

It was a bold and challenging brief. The trustees decided to commission two alternative reports. They invited Patrick Geddes, the pioneering biologist, sociologist, environmentalist, social reformer and city planner, to produce one of these, and T. H. Mawson the other. For Geddes, this was an opportunity to bring together his life's work across many disciplines in one visionary scheme. He spent months, with the assistance of a photographer, recording almost every square yard of the city, before submitting his plan.

The Potential for Open-Air Sites: a Diversified Approach in Emilia, Italy

Author(s)
Davide Delpiano 1 ✉,
Francesco Garbasi 1,
Filippo Fontana 2
Publication Date
The development of open-air cultural heritage and archaeological areas is based upon their optimal safeguarding and management, and through the public awareness they generate. In this paper, considering different management issues and end goals, we will demonstrate how, through cooperation among specialized professionals, local authorities and ...