Kalaureia 1894: Materiality in the Mediation of the History of Archaeology
Lecture by Ingrid Berg (University of Stockholm)
Recent theoretical approaches in archaeology focus on a ‘return to things’, whereby the materialization of the present and the past plays a vital part in analyses of social and cultural phenomena. Materialities also influence and direct our interpretations and narratives of our own discipline’s past, shaping linear, person-specific histories of archaeology which are then mediated to the public through museum exhibitions, publications and site tours.
By presenting my research on the first Swedish excavation in Greece, in the Sanctuary of Poseidon on Kalaureia (Poros) by Sam Wide (1861-1918) and Lennart Kjellberg (1857-1936), I wish to direct attention to various source materials that are used when writing the history of archaeology. By taking materiality seriously, we can begin to step outside the archive, literally look ‘outside the box’ to discuss different ways in which past archaeological practices materialize. Drawing inspiration from the multi-vocal discourses of public archaeology, I want to discuss how a co-mediation with the public as well as with ‘non-traditional’ material sources could result in new histories of archaeology.