Theoretical approaches on, for, withing and concerning developer-led archaeology

Despite being the number one producer of prehistoric data and knowledge about the past, employing the majority of the archaeological workforce, theory seems to play a limited role within the Culture Heritage Management sector. Prime reasons for this may be the lack of time, resources, and utility in the more data-driven, routinized and practical field of developer-led archaeology. But what if the theoretical approaches were more targeted on and for the Developer-led Archaeology and Management sector, and their own day-to-day role in the production of archaeological knowledge? Today, there is already a division between Culture Heritage Research and Cultural Resource Management studies. The former focuses on the role of cultural heritage in society, whereas the latter is further divided between studies on and for the Cultural Heritage Management, concerning political basis, practices, and biases on the one hand, and more ‘hands-on’ conservation ideologies and value criteria on the other. However, I suppose most employees within development-led archaeology – mainly triggered by solving ‘past mysteries – are probably feel unfamiliar with, estranged from and perhaps even deterred by such studies. In this paper, I want to focus on the relevance of more mainstream archaeological and social theory in exploring the role of Developer-led Archaeology and the Management sector in producing and managing knowledge about the past. If not accentuated, theoretical approaches are in fact already embedded in our own practice. In my PhD concerning transhumance and summer farming in Norway, I want to look at how such varying approaches even affect the past realities we want to explore. Maybe theory is not so useless after all?