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Sustainable Development Goals

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Conference Review: ACTION! Museums in the Climate Crisis, NEMO 2023

Author(s)
Julia Heeb 1
Publication Date
The NEMO European Museum Conference 2023: and… ACTION! Museums in the climate crisis took place in Lahti, Finland from 19-21 November. Almost 300 museum professionals from all over Europe took part, listening, discussing, and being inspired by a variety of formats and speakers. EXARC's Vice-Chair, Dr Julia Heeb from Stadtmuseum Berlin, was present...

Strategy of Presenting Prehistoric Sites Like an Open-air Stand. Why and How and from a Sustainable Development Perspective

Author(s)
Mona Abo Azan 1
Publication Date

Introduction

One of the heritage resources of prehistoric sites, where prehistory is a diverse and wide-ranging field of study, appears as the triple determination between geography and climate, humans and their type of social organisation. Prehistory has bequeathed us evocative monuments and landscapes from the earliest human occupation, spanning enormous environmental and technological changes, and including several human species. Thus, prehistoric sites have great meaning in both natural and cultural history.

The Scottish Crannog Centre: Sustainable Thinking through Time and Place

Author(s)
Edward Hiden 1
Publication Date
The Scottish Crannog Centre is currently in the process of moving to a new larger site, just across the waters of Loch Tay to the northern shores. On our journey to our new home of Dalerb we took the decision to embrace sustainability in all its forms and consider how we can highlight certain sustainable practices that can be seen in the archaeological record...

Exploring the Potential of Shared Authority Projects in Open-Air Museums

Author(s)
Kate Shear 1
Publication Date
As our societies become more diverse and the demographics of heritage visitors change, many open-air museums are concerned about how to remain relevant. Making a shift to an activist approach is one way museums can evolve to better serve their visitors and community. Many traditional museums have adopted this approach, but relatively few open-air museums have done so...

Breathing Life Sustainably - An Abandoned Settlement to an Open-Air Museum Twah Longwar

Author(s)
Naphibahun Lyngdoh 1
Publication Date
Twah Longwar is an abandoned settlement located in the State of Meghalaya in North-East India. It is located enroute to one of the world's rainiest places on earth – Mawsynram. Twah Longwar is an abandoned settlement with remnants of over twenty old houses, an ancient market, and a burial site. In a place where rainfall is a concern but also a major tourist attraction, and where lost architectural styles are only...

The Stone Age becomes Sustainable - Experiences from being an Educational Partner for Sustainable Development for more than 15 years

Author(s)
Rüdiger Kelm 1
Publication Date
Since the year 2006 the Archaeological-Ecological Centre Albersdorf (AÖZA), Germany, has worked as an officially recognised partner for sustainable development on an institutional base for the Sustainable Development Goals of the UNO on a regional level. In this article the thematic background of the educational work in archaeology and ethnography will be ...

Call for information: Recycling in the Late Neolithic at the Vlaardingen site of Den Haag-Steynhof

Author(s)
Annelou van Gijn 1
Publication Date

The Putting life into Late Neolithic houses project looks at all the different aspects of what life could have been like for “the people in the Rhine/Meuse delta at about c. 2900 – 2500 BC.” (www.puttinglife.com). This is not only done by academic research, experiments, and material analysis, but also through illustrations produced by archaeological reconstruction illustrator Kelvin Wilson.

Conference Review: The ICOM Museum Convention in Prague, August 2022

Author(s)
Roeland Paardekooper 1
Publication Date
The International Council of Museums, ICOM, has a habit of meeting every three years in a large General Conference. The last time was in Kyoto, Japan, in 2019. EXARC was present there, and we witnessed a heavy debate on the museum definition, but also spoke with many museum professionals from Japan and abroad. We worked in close cooperation with ICOM Netherlands that time...

Conference Review: ”Green Museum Summit“ organised by MuseumNext

Author(s)
Julia Heeb 1
Publication Date
An Inspiring Conference on how Museums can get the Ball Roling to Save the Earth. ​​​​​​​A virtual format was a fitting setting for an international conference including the adjective “green” in the title as no flights were necessary to get together for the three days from the 28th to the 30th of March 2022...

Discussion: Inclusivity in historical interpretation: Who has access and who is erased?

Author(s)
Andrea Mariani 1,2,3 ✉,
Sverre Christoffer Guldberg 4,
Sophie Jorgensen-Rideout 5,
Vera Bos ,
Paul Edward Montgomery Ramírez 7
Publication Date
The discussion of ‘authenticity’ in living history has been one of the main themes since the conception of contemporary historical interpretation. Our quest for authenticity should, in my opinion start with a thoughtful discussion: What goal do we want to reach through living history?...

Cooperating to Create a Greater Impact - The Case Study of ‘DEJIMA Transcending Time Itself’

Author(s)
Miyuki Yamaguchi 1
Publication Date
“Cooperating to create a greater impact" was a session during the ICOM General Conference in Kyoto, Japan. It was organized by ICOM NL, ICOM JP, DEMHIST, EXARC and the Japan Museum Sieboldhuis. The session took place on September 4, 2019. The session focused on themes of collaboration, cooperation, joint ownership and the possibilities in continued contacts...

Blending the Material and the Digital: A Project at the Intersection of Museum Interpretation, Academic Research, and Experimental Archaeology

Author(s)
Caroline Jeffra 1,
Jill Hilditch 1 ✉,
Jitte Waagen 2,
Tijm Lanjouw 2,
Markus Stoffer 2,
Laurien de Gelder 3,
Myung Ju Kim 1
Publication Date
The power of digital technologies to communicate archaeological information in a museum context has recently been critically evaluated (Paardekooper, 2019). A recent collaboration between members of the Tracing the Potter’s Wheel project, the 4D Research Lab, and the Allard Pierson Museum and Knowledge Institute illustrates the way that such...

The Development of the 1st Cultural Exchange of Traditional Knowledge and Experimental Practices of the Peruaçu River Basin

Author(s)
Ana Carolina Brugnera 1 ✉,
Lucas Bernalli Fernandes Rocha 1
Publication Date

Introduction

The Peruaçu National Park is a nature conservation unit located in the environs of the Peruaçu River basin, in the North of the State of Minas Gerais, and it preserves an area for the Cerrado biome of Brazil. The Cerrado is an area of 2 million square kilometres and is the second largest biome covering the Brazilian territory. However, just 20% of it is preserved. The region of the Peruaçu National Park belongs to this preserved 20%. On it is one of the most important archaeological sites of rock paintings in the state of Minas Gerais.

Digital Saryazd: Increasing Tourist Engagement Using Digital Documentation

Author(s)
Kristy-Lee Seaton 1 ✉,
Miglena Raykovska 1
Publication Date
Saryazd Castle is located in Yazd Province, Iran. The castle dates to the Samani era, with later expansion during the Safavid era. Constructed entirely of mud-brick, Saryazd was continuously used until the mid-20th century as a vault, protecting both people and their property. Earthenware structures require continual renewal in order to maintain the integrity of the structure. Today, visitors can...

Roar Ege: The Lifecycle of a Reconstructed Viking Ship

Author(s)
Tríona Sørensen 1 ✉,
Martin Rodevad Dael 1
Publication Date

Roar Ege was launched in 1984, and after more than 30 years on the water, has many sea miles under its keel. The years have, however, taken their toll on the ship. Roar Ege has undergone several major phases of repair – most recently in 2014. It was hoped this repair would keep Roar Ege afloat for several more years but by spring 2016, the ship had deteriorated to such an extent that it was clear that Roar Eges sailing days were over.

The Use and Relevance of Archaeological Open-Air Museums

Author(s)
Roeland Paardekooper 1
Publication Date
Archaeological open-air museums form a colourful and varied assemblage of heritage institutions. These are places where stories about the past, inspired by archaeology, are presented. Their obvious use is for experimental archaeology, ancient crafts and live interpretation. However, these museums can be more relevant to society than meets the eye. They can teach newcomers about...

Reaching Out to the Communities We are Here to Serve: Developments at the Scottish Crannog Centre

Author(s)
Frances Collinson 1
Publication Date
The Scottish Crannog Centre is a small archaeological open-air museum on Loch Tay in Perthshire. It originally operated as a visitor attraction, giving people a glimpse into life in the Early Iron Age through demonstrations of ancient skills and guided tours of a reconstructed crannog – loch dwelling – based on discoveries and excavations made by the Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology...

Everybody Else is doing It, so Why Can’t We? Low-tech and High-tech Approaches in Archaeological Open-Air Museums

Author(s)
Roeland Paardekooper 1
Publication Date
Some people believe that an open-air museum is a place where you leave your modern technique behind and go ‘low tech’. Other than the museums which act like digital free zones, many others experiment with going digital. Where experience and storytelling have always been the central concepts of archaeological open-air museums, exactly these ideas are behind many digital techniques. We have to...

The Effect of Climate Change in Experimental Archaeology

Author(s)
David Freeman 1
Publication Date
When you are planning your experiment how many of you think of the climate and whether it matches the period that your experiment is based in? Depending on the type of experiment there are many factors that may influence the results. You need to consider parameters such as; humidity, ambient temperature...

Butser Ancient Farm: An Internship Full of Senses

Author(s)
Àngels Fernández Canals 1
Publication Date
‘What is experimental archaeology?’ people asked me. ‘But if you work within an experimental place, you won’t be able to put into practise the tools learned in your Masters about cultural heritage and museology’ said some of my classmates. However, for me it was really important to do my internship in a place where the archaeology was paramount; at the same time, I was interested in...

Re-Creating an Aboriginal Earth Oven with Clayey Heating Elements: Experimental Archaeology and Paleodietary Implications

Author(s)
Maurizio Campanelli 1,
Jane Muir 2,
Alice Mora 3 ✉,
Daniel Ross Clarke 1,4,
Darren Griffin 4
Publication Date
Earth ovens may relate to different ancestral cooking techniques, serving specific needs and functions. In eastern and south-eastern Australia, they were a significant element of a thriving pre-colonial Aboriginal culture. However, today it is extremely rare to find such structures well preserved. Based on archaeological and historical records...

Now we’re Cooking with Gas! How Experimental Archaeology Challenges Modern Assumptions about Metal Recycling

Author(s)
E. Giovanna Fregni 1
Publication Date
It is accepted knowledge that when re-melting alloys, some of the metal with a lower melting temperature is lost through oxidation, and more metal must be added in order to maintain the desired alloy proportions. In order to understand the changes in alloy content when recycling using Bronze Age technology, experiments were undertaken by the author and others...

Build It and They Will Come: Managing Archaeological Open-Air Museums in Britain for Stability

Author(s)
Lydia Woolway 1
Publication Date
Museums are among the most visited attractions in the UK (ALVA 2015), and with interactive displays and active engagement becoming more commonplace, this success can be capitalised on by archaeological open-air museums. Some European archaeological open-air museums entertain many visitors per year, although most are smaller institutions (Paardekooper 2012)...

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 Gislinge Boat Open Source Project: An Old Boat and a New Idea

Author(s)
Triona Sørensen 1 ✉,
Martin Rodevad Dael 1,
Silas Tavs Ravn 1,
Marie Broen 1,
Marie Krogh Nielsen 1
Publication Date
In 1993, the remains of a wooden boat were uncovered during drainage works north of the village of Gislinge, on the island of Sjælland in Denmark (Gøthche 1995). Now reclaimed agricultural land, the area had once been part of the shallow Lammefjord, itself connected to the Isefjord and the open sea...

The Best Way of Preserving Something is to Educate about it - Educational Centres in South Africa

Author(s)
Frauke Sontberg 1
Publication Date
This article aims to show the kind of issues South- African archaeologists have, working with public archaeology. A past that was segregated earlier should now be shared, but sharing a common past includes alternative perspectives on history and archaeology, for the archaeologist as well as for the public.

Recycled Flint Cores as Teaching Tools: Flintknapping at Archaeological Open-Air Museums

Author(s)
Matthew Swieton 1 ✉,
Linda Hurcombe 1
Publication Date
This article examines the art and craft of flintknapping and how the OpenArch project has influenced the way in which this specialized body of craft-knowledge can be most efficiently presented to the public, but additionally—and more importantly—how making the most of teaching opportunities can convey a deeper interpretation to the museum-goer...

An Energy Saving House from 3400 Years Ago

Author(s)
Irene Staeves 1
Publication Date
The fact that people of the Bronze Age built houses with very good insulation was already presented by Staeves (2010) based on the results of an archaeological excavation in 2003 where an archaeological team of the Main-Kinzig district examined remnants of a Middle Bronze Age settlement. Prior to this, it was assumed that...

Towards a Best Practise of Volunteer Use Within Archaeological Open-air Museums: an Overview with Recommendations for Future Sustainability and Growth

Author(s)
Andrew Spencer 1
Publication Date
For many archaeological open-air museums (AOAMs), volunteers are an essential and highly visible component of an effective institution. Volunteers bring museums to life with meaningful interpretive contacts, and offer institutions the opportunity to broaden their mission and complete tasks that may not otherwise be possible...

Access to Cultural Heritage Sites for All

Author(s)
Linda Nilsen Ask 1
Publication Date
The purpose of Universal Design is to increase people’s opportunities to participate in society through the design of products, services, methods of communication, buildings and built-up spaces that are accessible to as many as possible. Many will suffer from some form of disability at some time in life, either temporarily or long-term...

Tangible and Intangible Knowledge: the Unique Contribution of Archaeological Open-Air Museums

Author(s)
Linda Hurcombe 1
Publication Date
OpenArch Special Digest 2015 Issue 2
***Over the years my personal research interests have focussed on the less tangible elements of the past, such as gender issues, perishable material culture, and the sensory worlds of the past, but all of these have been underpinned by a longstanding appreciation of the role experimental archaeology can play as...

The Steinzeitpark Dithmarschen (DE): Concept and Development of a Visitor Oriented Educational Centre for Sustainable Development

Author(s)
Rüdiger Kelm 1
Publication Date
OpenArch Special Digest 2015 Issue 2
***What does a Stone Age village or Stone Age house look like? (Almost) every person that we happen to randomly meet can answer this question with (subjectively recognized) certainty. Since the research of the 19th century, the knowledge people assume to have is based, not lastly, on images or...

“You could See it [the Past] in your Mind”: What Impact might Living History Performance Have on the Historical Consciousness of Young People?

Author(s)
Ceri Jones 1
Publication Date

Combining theoretical perspectives with two case studies carried out in 2008 with British students aged from 10-17 years old, this paper will explore how living history might contribute to the development of young people’s historical consciousness and help them to cope with the social and cultural differences which confront them when learning about the past. In particular, it will focus on the effectiveness of first- and third-person interpretation.

Living Conditions and Indoor Air Quality in a Reconstructed Viking House

Author(s)
Jannie Marie Christensen 1
Publication Date
7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***During the winter of 2011 and 2012 an archaeological indoor environment experiment was conducted in two reconstructions of the same house from the Viking Age built in Denmark. The purpose of the experiment was to examine the living conditions inside the houses during 15 weeks in wintertime...

Conference Review: Reaching Visitors Through Dialogue, Play and Experimental Archaeology. OpenArch Congress Archeon

Author(s)
Yvonne van Amerongen 1
Publication Date
This three-day conference (23-25 April 2013) was part of the OpenArch project, a project that spans five years and aims to raise the standard of scientific research and public presentation in the open-air museums throughout Europe, with a focus on the interaction with the visitor...

A Playground Amongst Museums - The Bauspielplatz: from an Open-air Youth Centre to a History Experience Site - an Unusual Development

Author(s)
Frank Kock 1
Publication Date
Being a Bauspielplatz [adventure playground] usually means that children have a place to meet, play, be creative, get in contact with animals and nature and even do ‘dangerous’ things - with some pedagogical guidance. It is part of local social work, similar to a youth centre...

International Learning Partnership: Living History and Adult Education in the Museum

Author(s)
Susanne Wiermann 1
Publication Date
Many archaeological open-air museums and museums with indoor reconstructions choose to interpret history using the method of ‘living history’, or re-enactments. If one only counts the German references, there is wide variety of terms used by museums when they talk of ‘living history’...

Grundtvig, Life Long Learning in Archaeological Open-Air Museums

Author(s)
Roeland Paardekooper 1
Publication Date

In November 2009, the idea for launching a network on adult education in EXARC was picked up. The first step was a preparation meeting in Oerlinghausen, Germany where we met with about 20 EXARC members from almost all corners of Europe. By mid 2010, 15 organisations, including EXARC itself joined in two so called Grundtvig Learning Partnerships, funded by the European Union...