Archaeology 2020: Repositioning Irish Archaeology in the Knowledge Society. A Realistically Achievable Perspective

Description

During the past century, the aims of archaeology have diversified very significantly. Going well beyond its original focus of working out a chronology for prehistory, modern archaeology is now concerned with the study of material culture in its broadest sense. Hence it is through things — objects, sites and monuments — that archaeology provides us with an understanding of societies in the past. This material evidence makes archaeology a crucially important medium for understanding Ireland’s cultural heritage and is itself a physical expression of that heritage. Irish archaeology has been changed fundamentally as a result of the exponential growth in developmentled activity since the early 1990s. In terms of its constituent sectors, archaeology could now be regarded predominantly as a business domain which operates in a competitive economic climate and focuses on generating information. This situation is radically different from the previous dominance of employment in the State and education sectors with the clear focus on research which characterised earlier decades. In response to these markedly changed circumstances and the consequential impact of new problems and challenges, a Foresight Study, leading to the production of this report, was initiated in 2004 by the UCD School of Archaeology, University College Dublin. List of Illustrations 4 Foreword 7 Executive Summary 11 1. Introduction 14 1.1 Context and Rationale for the Foresight Study 14 1.2 Profile of Irish Archaeology 15 2. Archaeology in Transition 18 2.1 Drivers of Change 18 2.2 Issues Affecting Irish Archaeology Today 22 2.3 Facing the Challenges 27 2.4 From Information Generation to Knowledge Creation 34 3. Initiatives to Reposition Archaeology in the Knowledge Society 38 3.1 Overarching Enabling Measures 38 3.2 Important Strategic Support Initiatives 47 4. Conclusions 57 References 59 Appendices 61 1. Participants in the Foresight Consultative Forum 61 2. Submissions 63