Many of the programmes follow established models that attract predictable (fairly large) audiences. Famously, the British TV producer Bruce Norman (1983: 29) once suggested that ”the best, i.e. most popular, (archaeological) programme would be the discovery of an Egyptian mummy with gold teeth on a submerged wreck off an island in the Caribbean.” Although this description of stereotypical archaeo-appeal may have been overstated to the extent that it was wrong even then (cf. Kulik 2003b), still today we can recognise certain popular clichés that reoccur in many archaeological documentaries. They are to do with exotic locations, adventurous fieldwork, and spectacular discoveries. For example, a 1997 TV series entitled ”Ice Mummies” contained one episode described in the following way :

Frozen in Heaven. This is the bizarre and fascinating story of the remains of Inca culture, frozen for posterity high in the mountains of the Andes. Evidence has emerged of sacrifice to the mountain gods, whose existence dominated the civilization over 500 years ago. The film traces the frozen bodies of children uncovered by archaeologists in South America, and follows an archaeological expedition to a high-altitude sacred site in search of ritual remains and another body. How did they come to be there? Why did they go to their deaths willingly? What was the religious framework that dictated their sacrifice to fierce gods?

No wonder, this series reached an absolutely astonishing figure of more than 5 million viewers in the UK alone (Kulik 2003b). It was also shown on PBS in the US and on Discovery Channel, indicating a similar appeal of that kind of archaeology across (at least) the Western world. But why is this appeal so similar in different countries? One reason might be that since the mid 1990s, a number of large American, commercial TV stations have emerged that are specialising in documentaries. Since archaeology is a very visual discipline, with exciting locations, various activities and evocative finds to film, among their documentaries are a fair number of archaeological programmes. The biggest channels now broadcast nearly over the entire world, and the overwhelming similarity of popular perceptions about archaeology throughout the Western world is therefore hardly surprising. People are simply watching the same programmes.

Even so, there are a few observable regional pecularities in the three countries I have been looking at in more detail: the U.K., Germany and Sweden. In each country, one specific series of programmes, representing a particular way of portraying archaeology, has been especially influensive.

Forward to Germany: Gisela Graichen's adventure archaeology

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