Abstract
In this paper it is argued that the rapid changes that have taken place within Swedish archaeology during the last decades can be discussed under the headings of structural, economical, public and theoretical changes and problems. It is also stressed that, taken together, these problems constitute a serious "crisis" in contemporary Swedish archaeology. So far, discussions seem to have focused mainly on the structural problems, while the economical, public and theoretical problems have been more or less neglected. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to il discuss the structural, economical, public and theoretical changes that have taken place in Swedish archaeology during the last decades and point to both the problems and the possibilities created by them, and ii) discuss the present structural, economical and public problems from a theoretical perspective by stressing that these problems can, at least partly, be solved within the framework of an awareness of the (self-) critical possibilities inherent in some of the theoretical reasoning of the last decades.
Highlights
In this paper it is argued that the rapid changes that have taken place within Swedish archaeology during the last decades can be discussed under the headings of structural, economical, public and theoretical changes and problems
Carl-Axel Moberg stressed that Swedish archaeology was in a state of "crisis" due to, among other things, i) the widening gap among archaeology's different fields, i.e. academia, museums and heritage management, ii) the fact that more persons are educated than there is a need for in the archaeological sector, iii) a situation whereby archaeological research is neglected on the behalf of education and mediation, iv) the fact that new theoretical trends within international archaeology (e.g. New Archeology) seem to be neglected, and v) the lack of dialogue between the advocates of different theoretical schools, e.g. New- and Culturalhistorical archaeologists
These conditions have been more or less neglected when discussing the "crisis" of Swedish archaeology.This situation is unsatisfactory, and against this background the aim of the present text is to: i) discuss the structural, economical, public and theoretical changes that have taken place in Swedish archaeology during the last decades, and point to both the problems and the possibilities created by them ii) discuss the present structural, economical and public problems from a theoretical perspective by stressing that these problems can, at least partly, be solved within the framework of an awareness of the possibilities inherent in the theoretical reasoning of the last decades
Summary
Come gather 'round people wherever you roam and admit that the waters around you have grown and accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone. In this paper it is argued that the rapid changes that have taken place within Swedish archaeology during the last decades can be discussed under the headings of structural, economical, public and theoretical changes and problems. It is stressed that, taken together, these problems constitute a serious "crisis" in contemporary Swedish archaeology. There are different opinions concerning the condition of contemporary Swedish archaeology and its capacity to orientate itself in the twenty-first century. Those who believe that everything is in order, that everything is developing in a positive direction. The following text namely will argue that contemporary Swedish archaeology has serious problems and is in a state of "crisis". Moberg argued that the way out of this "crisis" can be found in a dialogue among archaeologists with different interests and approaches to archaeology (Moberg 1969:15-22)
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