Contested Heritage: Relations between Contemporary Pagan Groups and the Archaeological and Heritage Professions in Britain in the Early 21st Century by Will Rathouse (review)

For most modern Pagans, the religions of pre-Christian Europe are regarded as ancestral and thus of key spiritual importance. As a result, many Pagans have expressed great interest in the archaeological evidence for these past societies as well as the ways in which this evidence is interpreted, displayed, and managed. In various cases, this has resulted in conflict between archaeologists and heritage managers on the one hand, and modern Pagans and members of allied subcultures on the other.

Over the past twenty years, quite a bit of work on the relationship between these two interest groups (at least in Britain) has been published, most importantly Jenny Blain and Robert Wallis’ 2007 book on paganism and archeology, Sacred Sites, Contested Rites/Rights. In the latest contribution to this growing body of literature, Will Rathouse provides a summary of some of the core areas of contention, especially over public access to sites like Stonehenge, the excavation of significant prehistoric discoveries, such as Seahenge, and the retention and display of pre-Christian human remains. Restricting his focus to England and Wales, he looks in particular at the views of modern Pagan Druids. Drawing on his own experience as both an archaeologist and a practicing Pagan, Rathouse also offers his thoughts regarding how a more productive relationship can be cultivated between different interest groups, stressing the importance of “continuous engagement and respectful discourse between all interested parties” (128).

Contested Heritage derives from Rathouse’s Ph.D. dissertation completed at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in 2015, and its origins as a thesis feel apparent in the structure and style of the book. Although Rathouse engaged in ethnographic work as part of his project, he draws little upon it in this monograph, which instead focuses largely on summarizing and synthesizing pre-existing literature, both primary and secondary. In many areas, Contested Heritage covers ground already explored in Blain and Wallis’ book, although Rathouse also includes discussion of certain issues they did not, such as the Crossbones Graveyard in South London. The book contains nearly forty color images, although some have been reproduced poorly. Various spelling and grammar errors indicate the need for a more thorough copyedit by the publisher.

Contested Heritage is primarily aimed at those working in archaeology or the heritage sector, as opposed to scholars of modern Paganism or new religious movements. Indeed, scholars of religion may be frustrated that it makes only limited use of the academic literature on modern Paganism. At no point does it cite anything from The Pomegranate, the only peer-reviewed journal devoted to the study of modern Pagan religions, for instance, and there are a range of studies of modern Pagan interactions with British archaeology that are similarly not cited. This is a drawback, although those scholars with a particular interest in modern Pagan relationships with archaeology and heritage may still find the book of interest.