NEARCH

Over the last 25 years, archaeology and cultural heritage management have undergone significant scientific and professional developments.

Conducted by the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap), the NEARCH project, supported by the European Commission for 5 years (2013-2018) in the framework of the Culture programme, is a European-wide cooperation network of 14 partners from 10 countries willing to explore these changes and their consequences.

NEARCH aims to explore the various dimensions of public participation in contemporary archaeology and bring to the field, which is strongly influenced by economic and social developments in society, new ways of working and collaborating.

More precisely, NEARCH’s main objectives are

• To emphasize the societal component of archaeology.
• To cultivate archaeology as a means to socially involve citizens and develop a sense of European citizenship.
• To explore and amplify the relationship between archaeology and artistic creation.
• To re-think and develop the ways to communicate and mediate archaeology towards the various audiences.
• To shape a new economic model for a sustainable practice of archaeology and heritage management.
• To promote new ways of teaching archaeological knowledge and practices to young professionals and encourage their transnational mobility inside and outside Europe.
• To examine the public relevance of European archaeology in a wider geographical and cultural perspective.

These objectives will be carried-out through a large-scale action plan structured around five main themes, each with a corresponding set of activities, as it follows

• INVOLVING
  Archaeology for the community: informing and involving people
• IMAGINING
  Archaeology and the imaginary: crossroads between science and art
• SHARING
  Archaeology and the knowledge: teaching and sharing information
• INNOVATING
  Archaeology in a changing economy: towards sustainability
• CONNECTING
  European archaeology and the world: dependencies and mutual development

For this project, Inrap has brought together 13 various European research centres, universities and cultural organizations.