The formation of archives has been a key facet of the archaeological discipline since its inception, critical in the production of knowledge from the destructive excavation that occurs in the field. The ongoing ‘archival shift’ within the humanities from archives as mere sources of secondary information to primary topics of research has presented new potential for the study of historic archaeological archives. This article explores the personal archives of two great scholars of Iron Age Celtic art, Paul Jacobsthal and EM Jope, held at the Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford. Shedding new light on their engagement and interaction with the objects that they studied, the author explores the archive’s power to illuminate the ways in which the scholars’ methods, experiences and encounters shaped the knowledge that they produced about the past. Through presenting the archives as both primary sources of historical information and vibrant material entities, worthy of ‘excavation’ in their own right, the article advocates an assemblage-based archaeological approach to archival engagement.

自档案学科成立以来，档案的形成一直是考古学科的一个重要方面，对于从该领域发生的破坏性挖掘中获取知识至关重要。人文科学界不断发生的“档案转换”，从仅作为次要信息来源的档案到主要研究主题，为历史考古档案研究提供了新的潜力。本文探讨了牛津大学考古研究所的两位铁器时代凯尔特艺术大师Paul Jacobsthal和EM Jope的个人档案。作者对与研究对象的互动和互动有了新的了解，并探索了档案馆的能力，以阐明学者的方法，经历和遭遇塑造了他们对过去产生的知识。通过将档案既作为历史信息的主要来源，又作为生机勃勃的物质实体来展示，本身就值得“发掘”，因此，提倡采用基于集合的考古方法来开展档案工作。