A ground-breaking book that examines the uneasy relationship between archaeology and education and argues that archaeologists have a vital role to play in education alongside other interpreters of the past. Contributors from different countries and disciplines show how the exclusion of aspects of the past tends to impoverish and distort social and educational experience.

The Presented Past is concerned with the differences between the comparatively static, well-understood way in which the past is presented in schools, museums and at historic sites compared to the approaches currently being explored in contemporary archaeology. It challenges the all-too-frequent representation of the past as something finished, understood and objective, rather than something that is constructed and therefore open to co-existing interpretations and constant re-interpretation. Central to the book is the belief that the presentation of the past in school curricula and in museum...

The Excluded Past examines the uneasy relationship between archaeology and education, arguing that archaeologists have a vital role to play in education alongside other interpreters of the past. Cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary contributors show how the exclusion of aspects of the past tends to impoverish and distort social and educational experience.

The Constructed Past presents group of powerful images of the past, termed in the book construction sites. At these sites, full scale, three-dimensional images of the past have been created for a variety of reasons including archaeological experimentation, tourism and education.
Using various case studies, the contributors frankly discuss the aims, problems and mistakes experienced with reconstruction. They encourage the need for on-going experimentation and examine the various uses of the sites; political, economical and educational.

Winner of the 2011 James R. Wiseman Book Award. Discussion of the issues surrounding the destruction of cultural property in times of conflict has become a key issue for debate around the world. This book provides an historical statement as of 1st March 2006 concerning the destruction of the cultural heritage in Iraq. In a series of chapters it outlines the personal stories of a number of individuals who were - and in most cases continue to be - involved. These individuals are involved at all levels, and come from various points along the political spectrum, giving a rounded and balanced...