Detectives of time…Reflections on the past, present and future of archaeology in Spain

Abstract

Archaeology as a science, but also as a profession, has seen in the last decades a vertiginous phase, marked by the emergence and collapse of commercial archaeology caused by errors and losses, but also by a certain conceptual redefinition which is still in process and from which stands out the new importance given to its social aspect. We continue, however, without finding the exact keys, asphyxiated by the lack of funding; Disconcerted by the official non-recognition of the profession; Plunged into continuous confrontations that delegitimize and undermine our social image. We must learn to share the knowledge we generate with the society that sustains us, boosting from the research the patrimonial and divulgative component of the discipline, integrating it in the productive fabric, and making of it source of employment and economic return. In all this process have had, and have much to say the University -not always innocent- and the new degrees in Archaeology, which still do not find the necessary legal reflection. It is, therefore, a time of self-criticism, reflection and analysis, for the sake of a new corporatism that distances old ghosts and extends from the rigor the limits of discipline.