Introduction: The Agency of Heritage Value(s)

Abstract

First paragraph: The decision to convene this special issue was inspired by the success of a session at the 29th Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) in August 2023 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The theme of the session was the agency of heritage value(s), and it was organised by the co-editors of this volume. Our aim was to extend the debate on how we understand the networks of value created through archaeological heritage-making processes. Ideas of value have become key elements in debates within heritage-related disciplines, and particularly archaeology and archaeological heritage. There is an abundant and diverse literature on how value can be created, circulated, or challenged; however, heritage values both influence these processes and exist outside of them, without the need to be labelled or fall under any kind of agency. Similarly, there is growing consensus on the need to not only understand how people engage with archaeological heritage, but also to reflect a far greater diversity of experiences and values in place-based policymaking and heritage management processes. We were particularly interested in contexts where different actors are working collaboratively in archaeological heritage-making processes (from planners and those in the construction industry, to policy makers, residents, landowners, and interest groups, to academic and commercial archaeologists, conservators and heritage managers) and how these actors express and negotiate their potentially differing values in practice. In addition, we wanted to explore how talking about these values or reviewing their evolution over time may have served, consciously or unconsciously, to shape certain actions related to the management of archaeological heritage sites and collections. These debates have profound consequences for the nature of archaeology in practice (e.g. the development of fields such as public archaeology) and theory (e.g. how we conceptualise archaeological heritage and value, as well as their agency). We are therefore delighted that many of those who participated in the EAA session have also contributed to this special issue, with papers that explore theoretical, strategic, and methodological approaches to the concept of value in a wide range of heritage contexts.