“How do you know that?” A study of narrative and mediation at an archaeological excavation site

Abstract

The public’s growing interest in archaeology in recent years is reflected in increased visits to excavation sites, part of a trend coined in the research as Public Archaeology. Public visits are often sponsored through museum outreach and education programmes for schools and families, offering diverse activities and encounters with archaeologists in the field. Yet there are few empirical studies of archaeologists’ mediation practices in these settings and what such interactions may mean for visitors’ learning about history and past cultures. This study empirically investigates a museum’s archaeological excavation site as a setting for students’ meaning making in the subject of history at the upper secondary level (17–19 years old). Interactional data from a school field trip to an excavation site are analysed to explore which archaeological knowledge, narratives, and semiotic resources archaeologists draw on when communicating interpretations of Norwegian history to this learner public. In contrast to developments in archaeological research perspectives over several decades, our analysis identifies processual archaeology as the predominant narrative that archaeologists’ draw on in their interactions with the young people visiting the site. We reflect on the implications of this finding in light of the educational aims, which focus on communicating the complex relationship between archaeology and historical interpretations. The overall aim of the article is to contribute to the development of learning perspectives and research methods that may be relevant for museums’ educational practices at archaeological excavation sites.