2025/10/01 by Heather Keeble · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · #History of Science and Natural History #Archaeological Research and Protection #Australian Indigenous Culture and History
paper · pdf · doi:10.11141/ia.69.5
The 19th century was a formative period for archaeology, which wanted to define itself as a credible, scientific subject distinct from antiquarianism. It remained, however, an amateur pursuit with no available official training or qualifications and standards of work varied enormously. How, then, did practitioners prove their credentials, forge their reputations and become established as an 'expert'? Without governmental or institutional support, British archaeologists had to be enterprising, to rally public support and raise subscriptions for their projects, and this included utilising the opportunities offered by the new phenomenon of ‘mass print’. During the early part of the century, a reduction in production costs meant that the market became flooded with titles (Turner 2010). Book reviews were one way of dealing with so much information and review journals became popular and influential (Miller 2016, 627). This article will consider reviews published between 1840 and 1860, focusing on Romano-British archaeology, and in particular the case study of Charles Roach Smith, a leading figure in this field. It will show that reviewing was an activity central to the archaeological scene, which offered various opportunities for authors to 'get ahead'. It will also reveal that, as both a reviewer and a reviewee, Smith was able to use the book review system as part of his wider strategies to achieve his aims.