Materializing mortality: Re‐enchanting grave goods in the British Museum using mixed‐method approaches to audience research

Abstract

Grave goods are among the most common, but at the same time most powerful, objects on display in many museums. They possess the rare—often latent—ability to convey both particular and universal themes and to collapse chronological and cultural differences by connecting the shared embodiment of museum visitors and past people. To explore these values, this study draws on the results of two phases of in‐depth, mixed‐methods audience research before and after a rapid and low‐cost interpretative intervention: the “Death, Memory and Meaning” trail in the later prehistoric galleries of the British Museum. The analysis highlights the importance of fore‐fronting intimacy and the complex relationship between bodies and objects. It also demonstrates the importance of contextual, emotionally and spiritually connected approaches to the presentation of grave goods. Our findings are especially timely given the intensification of ethical concerns surrounding displays of prehistoric European human remains in museums.