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arCHaeo Suisse 2026.1 – current issue

Collaborative Archaeology

Did you know that archaeology began as volunteer work? Early archaeologists were teachers, postal workers, or pastors. After 1945, these tasks were increasingly taken over by university-trained professionals, who gradually displaced the non-academic «amateurs».

Today, professional archaeologists and volunteers are once again working closely together. ArCHaeo Suisse dedicates its latest issue to this collaboration in all its diversity and shows how all those involved are advancing archaeology together.

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Focus

Volunteers and experts explore the Neuchâtel region

With the launch of major highway construction projects in the 1960s, archaeology became a more professionalized field. At the same time, volunteer work was sidelined or even excluded. For more than ten years now, volunteers have once again found their place in the archaeology of the Canton of Neuchâtel. They are active in prospecting as metal detectorists, divers, balloonists, or cavers. They are skilled individuals with complementary abilities who, together with students and experts, are dedicated to archaeology.

CVMBAT – Citizen science in the Grisons Alps

In the Cumbat research project, volunteer metal detectorists and citizen scientists not only conducted fieldwork but also participated in the project’s film documentation and in experimental archaeological investigations. Cumbat thus contributes not only to research on the beginnings of Roman rule in the territory of present-day Switzerland but also to the implementation of the Faro Convention.

When diving meets archaeology

The Centre Romand d’Archéologie Subaquatique et Sous-Marine (CREASSM) is an association that provides advanced training in underwater archaeology for professional archaeologists and interested individuals with diving experience. Through courses taught by experienced instructors, participants can apply their skills to archaeological investigations, some of which are commissioned by cantonal archaeological services. Other association and outreach projects raise awareness of volunteer work in this specialized field of underwater archaeology.