Editorial

Two different sections compose this volume of Public Archaeology, the first one related to the relationship between archaeology, state/nationalism, and interpretative narratives; the second to the ethics of treatment and exhibition of ancient human remains.

In the first paper, Louisa Campbell takes a novel approach to the study of replicas, whose importance has recently been explored by the University of Stirling and other researchers as part of the programme ‘New Future for Replicas’ (https://replicas.stir.ac.uk/). Campbell investigates the narratives told through replicas in museums. The Antonine Wall Distance Sculptures represent a significant case study — as these Roman sculptures, found in Scotland, carried the Roman colonialist and propagandist message, but are now reframed in a narrative aimed at embracing different perspectives and intercultural connections. As part of the Rediscovering the Antonine Wall Project, young stonemasonry students emulated the original sculptures, creating new meaning and significance in connection with the local community. While the original reliefs depict naked local peoples subjugated by the Romans, the communities consulted as part of the project asked to include in the new monument a scene of local people fighting back against the invaders, and an image of trade. The creation of this sculpture flipped the original (Roman) state narrative that has also tended to be disseminated by traditional museums.

The second paper focuses on the West Bank, and on the excavations that Moshe Dayan carried out when he was defence minister (1967–74). Mordechay Lash, Yossi Goldstein, and Itzhaq Shai investigate the impact that his actions and policy decisions had (and partly still have) on archaeology in Palestine. Through his personal connections and thanks to his position and reputation, Dayan looted a number of antiquities in the military-occupied Palestinian territory. This paper represents an important contribution to a better understanding of the interlinking between state politics and personalities, cultural policies and archaeology in Israel and the Middle East (see also Bernhardsson, 2005; Goode, 2007).

In the third paper of the section, Gabriel Moshenska and others bring us back to Europe, and examine Rudyard Kipling’s poem The Land (1917), which was written in the Sussex Weald. The poem evokes the rural landscape and ‘Englishness’ in a nationalist narrative, and the authors investigate the ‘origin myth’ created by Kipling. The paper examines the interpretation of the past by one of the most important English writers and how it could serve as an inspiration for other ‘reception’ studies.

Johanna Enqvist’s review of the recent book Heritage and Nationalism by Chiara Bonacchi closes the first section. Through big data, Bonacchi demonstrates how the past has been politically used in populist ideologies in three case studies (Brexit Referendum in the UK, 2018 Italian elections, and the US-Mexican border debate). The book is a major contribution to different fields of research (public archaeology, digital humanities, political sciences) and prompts thoughts on the role that archaeologists can have in society.

The second section of this volume opens with a paper by Kirsty Squires and Dario Piombino-Mascali on the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Sicily (Italy). This incredible site, established in AD 1599, houses one of the richest collections of mummies in Europe, including juvenile mummies, and it is therefore a visitor attraction that has been popular since the eighteenth century. Through data mining from TripAdvisor, the authors explored tourists’ attitudes towards the display of human remains in the catacombs, in order to then propose a non-invasive and collaborative approach to address ethical issues and improve visitor experience. This paper offers a significant contribution to the debate concerning the ethics of exhibiting human remains, in particular in the Mediterranean realm where this topic is still relatively fresh (see, e.g., Tienda Palop & Currás, 2019; Amoretti, 2021; Dellù & Sciatti, 2021).

Ethics in managing human remains is also considered in the last paper of this issue, by Elifgül Doğan, Lucienne Thys-Şenocak, and Jody Joy, who explore legal and professional issues in the management of human archaeological remains in Turkey. While legislation around human remains in Turkey was already included in the 2013 Handbook of Archaeological Human Remains and Legislation (Üstündağ, 2013), this paper takes a novel approach in investigating the implications of the legislation on professional practice, as well as the potential and challenges for public engagement with human remains. This paper represents an important first step towards new policies for a more inclusive and ethical management of human remains in Turkey.