Prima dell'archeologia pubblica. L'uso dell'archeologia nella costruzione delle identità mediterranee.

L'articolo introduce il volume monografico dedicato alla presentazione di alcuni casi in cui l'archeologia post-classica è stata usata, in Paesi del Mediterraneo, a creare e/o accreditare identità. I casi presi in esame si riferiscono a situazioni differenti (dalla fine del XIX secolo agli anni '90 del Novecento), prima comunque che la c.d. archeologia pubblica, di cui si traccia un breve commento critico, prendesse campo nell'ambito delle esperienze di comunicazione e disseminazione delle comunità occidentali.

In the last few years in Italy what is now called “public archeology” has gained popularity. The term is a translation of an English expression coined at the UCL in London toward the end of the 20th century. This article offers a brief and synthetic analysis of the activities connected with public archeology in Italy including its connection with “public history”. It also discusses the role of public archeology in the history of Italian archeology and analyzes the concept of identity which is often used by the “public archeologists” and the use that has been made of it over time by historians and archeologists in order to give credence to ideologies and consent, in cases that are both very explicit and subtlety implicit. These observations act as an introduction to the articles contained in the monographs which are related to different Mediterranean histories in which Medieval archeology has been used to give credence to nationalisms or to reinforce colonial expansion through cultural operations.