This paper focuses on two trends in the debate over the scope and nature of public archaeology. The first is a growing concern to define and codify its disciplinary boundaries. The second trend, arguably in tension with the first, is the ever-widening exploration of how people engage with their past, and the ramifications for the way archaeology, in its widest sense, is practised. It is argued that an excessive preoccupation with demarcating the disciplinary boundaries of public archaeology may risk obscuring a far more important objective, tied to the second trend referred to above. Debates on the relationship between the public, the past, and archaeological practice have resulted in a sea-change in attitudes to the responsibilities of the archaeologist, in the relationship between scientific knowledge and popular and indigenous knowledge, and in ideas about the relevance and usability of the past. Public archaeology is concerned with all these issues. It is argued that, to fulfil this wider vision, public archaeology cannot afford the strictures of a specialized discipline within archaeology, but must remain a persistent, essential, and foundational ingredient in the competencies and sensibilities of every archaeologist and co-worker in the field.

中文翻译：

---

但不是所有考古学都是“公共”考古学吗？

本文重点关注关于公共考古学的范围和性质的争论中的两个趋势。首先是对定义和编纂其学科界限的日益关注。第二个趋势可以说与第一个趋势存在紧张关系，它是对人们如何与过去接触的不断扩大的探索，以及最广泛意义上的考古学实践方式的影响。有人认为，过度关注划定公共考古学的学科界限可能会掩盖一个更重要的目标，这与上面提到的第二个趋势有关。关于公众、过去和考古实践之间关系的辩论导致对考古学家责任的态度发生了翻天覆地的变化，科学知识与流行和本土知识之间的关系，以及关于过去的相关性和可用性的想法。公共考古学关注所有这些问题。有人认为，为了实现这一更广阔的愿景，公共考古学不能承受考古学中一门专业学科的限制，但必须在每个考古学家和该领域的同事的能力和敏感性中保持持久的、必不可少的和基本的成分。 .