This book will suggest new agendas for identity and heritage studies by means of presenting contentious issues facing archaeology and heritage management in a globalized world. The book is not only present the variability of heritage objectives and experiences in the New and Old World, and opens a discussion, in a shrinking world, to look beyond national and regional contexts. If the heritage sector and archaeology are to remain relevant in our contemporary world and the near future, there are a number of questions concerning the politics, practices and narratives related to heritage and identity that must be addressed. Questions of relevance in an affluent, cosmopolitan setting are at odds with those relevant for a region emerging from civil war or ethnic strife, or a national minority battling oppression or ethnic cleansing. A premise is that heritage represents a broad scope of empirically and theoretically sound interpretations - that heritage is a response to contemporary forces, as much as data. It is therefore necessary constantly to evaluate what is scientifically accurate as well as what is valid and relevant and what can have a contemporary impact.

This brief is the proceedings of two roundtables and forums organized by Eszter Banffy, Peter Biehl, Douglas Comer, and Christopher Prescott and sponsored by the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) and the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) held at the 76th SAA annual conference in Sacramento in April 2011, and the 17th EAA annual conference in Oslo in September 2011. The book is organized around five main issues with the goal to stimulate discussion, research and practices within the field: Traditions and legal regulations of heritage and its management The teaching of cultural heritage; public outreach and university training Heritage and national identity The future of cultural heritage in a globalized and digitized world This book is thus be an exploration of the various experiences in Europe and the Americas to better understand, in the vast field of archaeology and cultural heritage management, where we are today, where we might be, and where we hope to be in the near future.

This study of the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age in Inner Sogn, western Norway, is based on material from an area on the periphery of southern Scandinavia. Though this mountainous region was peripheral and agriculturally marginal, it was not marginal in regard to pastoral and wildlife resources. Prescott explores how this area was exploited, responding to the extensive archaeological material from Ardal as well as to theoretical and methodological approaches in previous studies of Late Neolithic and Bronze Age material. He attempts to analyze aspects of human behaviour, social organization, and land use in this particular period and region.