An Introduction to Museum Archaeology

Hedley Swain is Head of Early London History and Collections at the Museum of London and chair of the British Society of Museum Archaeologists. He is an honorary lecturer at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, and an instructor at the University of London. Swain has published widely on museum and archaeological matters and is the author of several major surveys of museum archaeology in Britain.

• Part I. Introduction: 1. What for whom?; 2. Origins and influences; 3. Current aims, scope, and theory; 4. The legal framework; 5. Geographic scope; Part II. Collections: 6. Archaeological collections; 7. Excavation archives; 8. Human remains; 9. Research; 10. Conservation and collections care; Part III. Interpretation: 11. The visiting public; 12. Displaying archaeology: methods; 13. Displaying archaeology: examples; 14. Schools, public and community programmes; Part IV. Conclusions: 15. Conclusions; 16. Museums mentioned in text.

'An Introduction to Museum Archaeology is an accessible account of museum archaeology in England, as seen by one of its most active and visible exponents. … Usefully, each chapter contains a short list of key texts and the museums and exhibitions cited in this book are included in an appendix …' Antiquity