Museum Worlds: Advances in Research

Abstract

One could easily create a pessimistic view of the future of museums, and museum archaeology more specifically, from current events. Budget constraints, the elimination of research staff and departments at venerable institutions (Aubusson 2015; Johnson 2015; Shen 2012), and even the closure, albeit temporary, of long-established state institutions (Davis 2016) all paint a bleak picture for museum research within an environment of continuing austerity and financial crisis. In archaeology, on top of immediate economic concerns, we have yet to solve a long-perceived “curation crisis” caused by an urgent need to increase the size, quality, and sustainability of long-term storage spaces (Kersel 2015; National Park Service 2016; SAA Advisory Committee on Curation 2003). In some cases, archaeologists are even reasonably advocating for returning finds to the ground in order to take some of the pressure off overwhelmed curatorial facilities (Williams 2011). This crisis looms while the rate of accumulation of archaeological materials accelerates, driven largely by the expansion of development-driven commercial archaeology globally.