It is possible to identify four approaches to public archaeology: educational, public relations, pluralist, and critical. The most significant divide in the discourse of public archaeology over the last few decades has existed between the educational and public relations approaches on one side, and the pluralist and critical approaches on the other. Today, however, the dividing line in these four approaches is gradually shifting, as the pluralist and critical approaches, which have so far tended to be grouped together as a more theoretical and post-processual category, are progressively splitting apart. What is emerging, as a result, is a new divide between the educational, public relations, and pluralist approaches on the one side, and the critical approach on the other. This shift seems to be caused by economic neo-liberalism which demands that archaeology be more viable in economic terms. The more archaeology seeks economic viability, however, the more it alienates itself from critical reflection. The critical approach is, thus, faced with the danger of being regarded as a detriment to the sustainability of archaeology. What seems to be crucially needed today, then, is to reconfigure public archaeology, so that it can cope with the presently dominant economic paradigm, while at the same time continuing to keep critiquing it.

中文翻译：

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公共考古学理论的思考

可以确定公共考古学的四种方法：教育、公共关系、多元化和批判性。在过去的几十年里，公共考古学话语中最显着的分歧存在于一方面是教育和公共关系方法，另一方面是多元主义和批判性方法。然而，今天，这四种方法的分界线正在逐渐改变，因为迄今为止倾向于归为理论性和后过程性类别的多元主义和批判性方法正在逐渐分裂。结果是，一方面是教育、公共关系和多元主义方法，另一方面是批判方法之间出现了新的鸿沟。这种转变似乎是由经济新自由主义造成的，它要求考古学在经济方面更具可行性。然而，考古学越是寻求经济可行性，它就越与批判性反思疏远。因此，批判的方法面临着被视为损害考古学可持续性的危险。那么，今天似乎迫切需要的是重新配置公共考古学，以便它能够应对目前占主导地位的经济范式，同时继续对其进行批评。