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This article introduces the first of what will ultimately be two collections of case studies in archaeologist–responsible/responsive artifact collector collaboration. Focused on the United States, the articles in this issue of Advances in Archaeological Practice share the thoughts and experiences of archaeologists representing diverse employment sectors (compliance, agency, museum, and university), artifact collectors, and members of descendant communities. Research areas extend from California to Virginia and from Ohio to the Texas/Mexico border. The breadth of the writers' backgrounds and their focal regions reinforce the wide applicability of collaborative best practices. Every author explicitly treats two subjects: (1) the intersection of their work with the Society for American Archaeology's (SAA) recently published guidelines for ethical professional–collector collaboration, and (2) their own practical suggestions for establishing and nurturing those relationships. This introductory article provides an overview of each of the other contributions, notes how the contributions articulate with the SAA guidelines, and offers its own, mostly philosophical suggestions for prospective members of professional–collector collaborations. publishedVersion

openaire: EC/H2020/896044/EU//DeepFIN FindSampo fosters collecting, sharing, publishing and studying archaeological finds discovered by the public. The framework includes the following: a mobile find-reporting system; a semantic portal for researchers, the public and collection managers to use; and a Linked Open Data service for creating custom data analyses and for application developers.

The events of the Second World War left considerable material remains in Finnish Lapland, ranging from the remnants of structures that were destroyed in the 1944–45 Lapland War, through to small, portable objects connected to soldiers, prisoners of war and civilians. These material remains have variously been saved and cherished by survivors and their families, disregarded as ‘war junk’, ‘discovered’ by hobbyists exploring the landscape, amassed and exchanged by private collectors, and accessioned into official museum collections. These various processes represent transformations of material culture to take on various meanings and embodiments, depending on the different individuals and organizations involved. In this article we present and analyse data collected through ethnographic fieldwork in and around the Lapland village of Vuotso: primarily interviews and observations. We have conducted interviews with history hobbyists and museum professionals who engage with the WWII history of Lapland, and observed the treatment of ‘war material culture’, for example through exhibitions (both public and hidden) and through personal meaning-making practices. These encounters have centred around the material remains of the Second World War, and the ways in which different actors perceive, value and otherwise understand those remains. While some objects are transformed through musealisation, others remain ‘officially’ unknown and unrecognized (although known – even traded and exchanged – through private channels). Furthermore it may be as important for some actors to leave material culture in situ – for example as testimony to the past conflict or trauma – as it is for others to exercise personal ownership. Within this context, we deconstruct the notion of ‘expert’ as it relates to the local and historical knowledge. Being regarded by peers and others as an expert is not necessarily the same thing as having professional authority and status, for example as a museum curator or university-affiliated scholar. We draw upon theories of relational materiality, and suggest different typologies of engagement with the material culture. Different networks of interest and expertise emerge, dependent on the actors involved (including their status – e.g. museum professional, survivor, ‘incomer’, local activist – and how their knowledge is thus accepted, challenged or rejected by others), the context of ownership, situationality and perceived levels of authenticity.

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Across Europe, non-professional metal detecting is a subject of great controversy. Just like metal detecting cultures, legal and policy approaches are highly internal to the different national and regional contexts, and archaeologists’ and heritage professionals’ opinions and attitudes towards the subject are often polarized and based on ethical and/or emotive arguments. We, the members of the European Public Finds Recording Network, have all implemented a cooperative approach towards the detectorist communities in our respective national and regional contexts (Denmark, England, Finland, Flanders and the Netherlands). Although we are driven by distinctively different motivations affected by our national contexts, we all base our work on an agreed upon set of goals, practices and visions. It is the aim of this article to present the ‘The European Public Finds Recording Group’s vision statement’ and to provide insight into its underlying thoughts. Hereby we hope to stir what we consider a necessary debate on how to develop best practice approaches that both harness the inherent challenges of hobby metal detecting while at the same time realise its potential.

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The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London ran a special temporary exhibition about videogames. The exhibition, titled Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt, focused in particular on the design elements involved in creating videogames, and the growing mainstream prevalence of gaming as a digital culture, and as popular culture in general. Particularly striking was the sheer materiality of the creative process that goes into designing videogames, and the exhibition layout and opportunities for participation were conducive to a lot of visitor interaction with both the exhibits and with each other. Non

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In 2010, the first shaman festival to be held in the Nordic countries opened its doors to the public in the county of Lavangen, Northern Norway (Fig. 1). The festival is named Isogaisa and presented as an indigenous festival highlighting the spiritual traditions of indigenous people. At this annual festival, shamans from all over the world gather to perform ceremonies and exchange knowledge.