Abstract:

The commercial spaces of archaeological museums are rarely the object of research, but they are indicative of many aspects of the social image of the discipline. In this paper we address this issue through two case studies, the physical shop of the Pergamon Museum, Berlin, and the online shop of the British Museum, London. We identify the predominant themes of the products, social distinctions in the target audience and patterns of change that can be glimpsed, focusing on the role of these spaces as important repositories, as well as communicators, of messages about science and the study of the past.