Post-Medieval Archaeology and Folk Life Studies

Abstract

DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, the antiquarian movement in the British Isles flourished tremendously, and local societies, variously called Philosophical Societies, or Literary Societies, Antiquarian Societies or Museum Societies were established in great number throughout the country to cater for the new interest in antiquities. One of the most important functions of these societies was to rescue the material remains of earlier centuries, and to most people, this meant the collection of prehistoric and proto-historic objects. Occasionally 'bygones' of more recent times were collected, but only if they possessed artistic or monumental value. Plain, simple or defective objects were more often than not disregarded, for the old generation of museum curators saw their objects primarily as exhibition pieces rather than as a basis for scientific study. The main interest of these local societies was the excavation of early sites, and the stone, metal and pottery objects excavated from those sites were .sometimes cleaned, presented to the local museum and shown there in a forest of ebonized glass cases. The museums were cabinets of curiosities and few attempts were made to study the nlaterial obtained by the museum in any detail. There was naturally some scientific work, but only on isolated articles which had a value of their own, rather than on the background from which they came. The usual sequence of events was the excavation of a site, rescuing the material objects found on it and displaying those objects in a museunl gallery. During the present century, however, archaeology has developed phenolnenally, and although the amateur excavator and the antiquarian still have an important part to play in archaeological work, great care is taken that a site is clearly docunlented and the material from it clearly dated and labelled. There is in most cases an attempt at placing the object in evolutionary sequence and in discovering the cultural contacts associated with it. In addition, scholars are studying the typology of nlaterial, its provenance and dating, while a collection of excavated objects may provide the raw materials for prehistorians and historians to study ways of life associated with these objects. In other words, archaeology has grown up from being a nlere collection of artefacts by enthusiastic amateurs to an academic discipline that has a great deal to contribute to our knowledge of mankind. Until recent times, folk life was regarded merely as an appendage to archaeology: 'an ambulating guest of certain related branches of science, which, thanks to the