Recovering the history of archaeology in museums

Abstract Among the major domains studied in the history of archaeology are museums, as institutions and as sites of knowledge. In this chapter, we consider how museums have contributed to the making of archaeological knowledge—such as the National Museum of Denmark’s Three Age System, or notions of prehistoric industries at the 1867 Universal Exhibition. Another example concerns fakes—establishing the authenticity of artefacts has led to an understanding of their mode of production and use, while questions of provenance have broadened to issues of assemblage and context. The second part of this chapter considers how the history of archaeology has been mobilized as a means of outreach and education, with examples drawn from Northern Italy, Oxford, Paris, and Berlin. We conclude that museums nowadays cannot fulfil their functions without some consciousness of their history, and therefore should integrate the material and ideological conditions of archaeological knowledge into their objectives and displays.