Welding Theory with Tourism: Past and Present of Industrial Archaeology in Finland

Abstract

Industrial archaeology, like any other branch of archaeology, forms a place where past and present meet. That how and to what ends the meeting place have been set up, defines the reciprocal binding between the two. In Finnish industrial archaeology, efforts to construct this stage have been very patchy, occasional and machine-centred. The first proper archaeological excavation at an industrial site took place in the 1980s, and the first Finnish article discussing the term was published as late as 1977. The situation has changed radically during the late 1990s and early 2000s, fieldwork has become more common and more studies are being published. One crucial factor in this development has been the growth of cultural tourism which has made technical and museological demands on industrial heritage. Industrial tourism as a whole is a new challenge to heritage management and industrial archaeology, because Finland has traditionally profiled itself as a country of nature tourism. However, the implications of the tourist industry for industrial archaeology and heritage have neither been fully articulated nor analysed. The following article attempts firstly to present an overview of Finnish industrial archaeology and secondly to bring together three aspects of the current state of research: archaeological practice, tourism and theoretical reflection.