An Anthropological insight on the commonalities between Tourism and Archaeology

Abstract

Over the years, archaeology maturated towards something else than a scientific discipline. Archaeological sites are culturally showed as emerging and recycled tourist attractions (Robb 1998; Bateman 2006; Rowan & Baram 2004; Karlsson & Gustafsson, 2006). At a closer look, tourism is understood as a leisure activity which is enrooted in the needs of relaxing and evasion while archaeology -as a knowledge platform which is based on scientific method- explores the history of ancient cultures. This raises a more than interesting question respecting the commonalities and differences between archaeology and tourism. To some extent, archaeologists find ancient relics and objects which not only belonged to “Others” who have perished but –and what is more important- have no sense beyond the borders of archaeological knowledge. At the same time, tourists visit archaeological ruins which are interpreted according to the social imaginary which was filled by archaeologists