Book Review: Förestallningar om det Förflutna by Bodil Petersson. Imaginations of the Past, Archaeology and Reconstruction.

Abstract

When in 2004 I asked Tomas Johansson for advice on my plans for a PhD in archaeological open-air museums, he quite rightly told me, “Bodil Petersson already did that, read the book”. Now, after finishing my own PhD in 2012, it is time to publish a review on this book and share its merits. Petersson is a Swedish archaeologist who wrote her thesis in 2003 reflecting on archaeological (re)constructions and their functions, forms and goals as well as their relation to archaeology.

Keywords

• public archaeology
• archaeological open-air museum
• (re)construction
• heritage management
• tourism
• iron age
• viking age
• early middle ages
• late middle ages
• sweden
• book
• review