The Story of your Site: Archaeological Site Museums and Archaeological Open-Air Museums

Abstract

Archaeological site museums may not be that well defined worldwide, yet, they are found almost everywhere. Archaeological sites with reconstructed buildings based on archaeology however seem to be a younger phenomenon and are mainly concentrated in Europe, Japan and North America. Both types of museums however have old roots. Important is not so much the site per se, but the message the management wants to bring across, how they like the site to be interpreted. Reconstruction is then one of the options. Prospects for archaeological sites with a museum function are, like for all museums, critical: one must find relevance of the museum in modern society.

Keywords

• open-air museum
• newest era
• archaeological open-air museum
• (re)construction
• tourism
• presentation
• interpretation