4 - The Scope and Potential for Community Archaeology in the Netherlands

Summary

As an archaeologist who sees archaeology as a product, and who loves to share history with people rather than keeping archaeology for future generations, I became interested in an approach to archaeology that shares cultural heritage with people. My goal was to identify an approach to archaeology that would allow people to interact with their past in the ways they wanted to. I learned about the concept of ‘community archaeology’ and was faced with a question: is there a demand, and are there possibilities, for community archaeology in the Netherlands? Most of the results presented in this chapter are based upon research undertaken (Lampe 2010) for my Masters degree in Heritage Management in a World Context at the University of Leiden, Netherlands. The results presented here are based on findings from groups of respondents representing all volunteers in archaeology, as well as professional archaeologists within this area of interest in the Netherlands. After drafting this chapter, I discussed some parts of it with Professor Willem J H Willems, Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology at the University of Leiden. Therefore some of Professor Willems' remarks are quoted alongside my own comments or results.

Background

In 2007 the Netherlands revised its Monuments Act, as a reaction to the Valetta Convention of 1992. One important element covered by the Valetta Convention was not fully understood by the new Monuments Act: the stimulation of, and increase in, the Dutch public's awareness of cultural heritage. With the introduction of the Valetta Convention, Dutch archaeologists showed little consideration for the Dutch public's interests.