"History of Research" in a different way: Social, Political, and Economic Influences on excavations in Early Iron Age burial mounds of Southern Germany

Abstract

Despite a growing interest in the history of archaeology during the last years still relatively little is known about the social context of the basic archaeological activity of excavating. With the help of a compilation of data concerning cemeteries of the Early Iron Age in Baden-Wurttemberg and Bavaria, which was originally not meant to be used for historical research, this article discusses the excavation frequencies and the social origin of excavators between 1800 and 2000. Four main phases that strongly correlate with large-scale political and economic events (e.g. 1st and 2nd World War, Great Depression) can be distinguished. While the first excavators’ generation was recruited primarily from the nobility or clergy, from 1880 onwards excavators with a middle-class background dominate. The article closes with methodological remarks on the relationship of historians and archaeologists in working towards a history of archaeology.