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“Vad händer med allt ni gräver upp?” : Relationen mellan svensk uppdragsarkeologi och museers föremålsarkiv

Hansen, Axel LU (2026) ABMM34 20261
Division of ALM, Digital Cultures and Publishing Studies
Abstract
“What happens to everything you excavate?” is a question most archaeologists will be asked. The answer, generally, is “Storage in museum collections”. Archaeological excavations, commercial, academic and otherwise, generate vast quantities of finds. Almost all are stored as collections, or object archives, maintained by museums. An additional answer might also be “Not enough”: despite the size and potential of these archives, neither archaeologists nor other researchers interact with them to any significant degree after the finds have been stored. The primary aim of this study is to analyse how commercial archaeologists in Sweden interact with archaeological object archives, to which degree and for which purposes. The secondary aims are to... (More)
“What happens to everything you excavate?” is a question most archaeologists will be asked. The answer, generally, is “Storage in museum collections”. Archaeological excavations, commercial, academic and otherwise, generate vast quantities of finds. Almost all are stored as collections, or object archives, maintained by museums. An additional answer might also be “Not enough”: despite the size and potential of these archives, neither archaeologists nor other researchers interact with them to any significant degree after the finds have been stored. The primary aim of this study is to analyse how commercial archaeologists in Sweden interact with archaeological object archives, to which degree and for which purposes. The secondary aims are to evaluate the potential of such archives and the obstacles that exist towards unlocking said potential. The chosen method for the analysis is to evaluate the input and output of the archives (that is, comparing its number of objects against the ways in which they are utilised, by whom and how often). These aims will be pursued using institutional, social and archival theory. The methods are primarily qualitative, where interviews and questionnaires are employed on commercial archaeologists and museum personnel responsible for archaeological collections. Archaeological object archives are at present a mostly untapped resource, accumulated and managed by institutions often lacking the means, guidelines and ability for interinstitutional communication necessary to utilise their potential. This study is meant to help initiate a formal discussion on how to change the situation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Hansen, Axel LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
“What happens to everything you excavate?” : The relation between Swedish field archaeology and object archives in museums
course
ABMM34 20261
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Archaeology, archaeological collections, archival theory, commercial archaeology, curation crisis, object archives, museum collections
language
Swedish
id
9228125
date added to LUP
2026-06-16 09:42:44
date last changed
2026-06-16 09:42:44
@misc{9228125,
  abstract     = {{“What happens to everything you excavate?” is a question most archaeologists will be asked. The answer, generally, is “Storage in museum collections”. Archaeological excavations, commercial, academic and otherwise, generate vast quantities of finds. Almost all are stored as collections, or object archives, maintained by museums. An additional answer might also be “Not enough”: despite the size and potential of these archives, neither archaeologists nor other researchers interact with them to any significant degree after the finds have been stored. The primary aim of this study is to analyse how commercial archaeologists in Sweden interact with archaeological object archives, to which degree and for which purposes. The secondary aims are to evaluate the potential of such archives and the obstacles that exist towards unlocking said potential. The chosen method for the analysis is to evaluate the input and output of the archives (that is, comparing its number of objects against the ways in which they are utilised, by whom and how often). These aims will be pursued using institutional, social and archival theory. The methods are primarily qualitative, where interviews and questionnaires are employed on commercial archaeologists and museum personnel responsible for archaeological collections. Archaeological object archives are at present a mostly untapped resource, accumulated and managed by institutions often lacking the means, guidelines and ability for interinstitutional communication necessary to utilise their potential. This study is meant to help initiate a formal discussion on how to change the situation.}},
  author       = {{Hansen, Axel}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{“Vad händer med allt ni gräver upp?” : Relationen mellan svensk uppdragsarkeologi och museers föremålsarkiv}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}