Från stadsarkeologi till urbanitetsarkeologi? Förslag till framtidsperspektiv

From town archaeology to an archaeology of urbanity? Suggestions on future perspectives

Författare

Joakim Thomasson

Redaktör

Andersson Hans
Wienberg Jes

Summary, in English

When medieval archaeology was formed as an independent academic discipline at Lund University in the middle of the 1960s, town archaeology was a vital part representing one of the orders in feudal society. It was established as a recognizable discourse and a major arena for excavating medieval archaeology.

The article deals with the following issues: What kind of epistemological currents have influenced the way in which archaeology has been carried out? How have the remains been documented? How have the reports been structured? Which research areas have been of interest?

A decade after the emancipation of medieval archaeology, processual archaeology grew in importance. Archaeology was a part of public heritage administration. Processes such as urbanization and production were in focus, and documentation and fieldwork were carried out with natural science as a role model. With post-modern influence, heritage became a contemporary issue, and with post-processual archaeology the view of the town as a phenomenon changed. Medieval archaeology is redefined as historical archaeology, method is vital instead of the epoch. Interpretation is favoured before neutral observations. The focus is upon wider time frames, urbanity is regarded as a part of landscapes and in global perspectives, and historiography is of interest as well as the urban cultural heritage. It is argued that this reflects a change towards an archaeology of urbanity. However, archaeology also has to develop a more interpretive contextual approach and incorporate the built heritage.

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