Tangible and Intangible Knowledge: the Unique Contribution of Archaeological Open-Air Museums

Abstract

Over the years my personal research interests have focussed on the less tangible elements of the past, such as gender issues (Hurcombe 1995, Donald and Hurcombe 2000), perishable material culture (2014), and the sensory worlds of the past (2007a), but all of these have been underpinned by a longstanding appreciation of the role experimental archaeology can play as both a research tool and as an aid for public presentation (Hurcombe 2004, 2007b, Ch 4, 2008; Van de Noort et al. 2014). The OpenArch project (a five-year cultural project funded by the EU) has given me the opportunity to establish a close working relationship with those presenting the past in archaeological open-air museums. Exeter is the only University in the partnership which is formed from nine other partners from a diverse cross-section of open air museums, and the eleventh partner is the organisation EXARC. This has placed me in a unique position as an academic researcher. I have been able to build on my own research interests in this sector and we have had many interesting discussions arising from this interaction. This paper articulates a fundamental aspect of research and open-air museums: the relationship between tangible and intangible knowledge. Ever since first visiting open air museums as a student the value and unique position of such museums has been clear to me: they have to present intangible knowledge, making it tangible: they have to deal with the unknown as well as the known. This is both their unique contribution and their dilemma.

Keywords

• archaeological open-air museum
• methods and techniques
• palaeolithic
• mesolithic
• neolithic
• chalcolithic
• bronze age
• iron age
• roman era
• viking age
• early middle ages
• late middle ages
• newest era
• united kingdom