Ex Novo is a fully peer reviewed open access international journal that promotes interdisciplinary research focusing on the multiple relations between archaeology and society. It engages with contemporary perspectives on antiquity linking past and present, and encourages archaeology’s engagement with theoretical developments from other related disciplines such as history, anthropology, political sciences, philosophy, social sciences and colonial studies. Ex Novo encompasses prehistory to modern period, and by exploring interconnections between archaeological practice and the importance of the past in current society it encourages an exploration of current theoretical, political and heritage issues connected to the discipline.

Areas and topics of interest include: politics and archaeology, public archaeology, the legacies of colonialism and nationalism within the discipline, the articulation between local and global archaeological traditions, the discipline’s involvement in memory and identity, museum studies and restitution issues. Ex Novo encourages dialogue between disciplines concerned with the past and its relevance, uses and interpretations in the present.

History

Ex Novo was firstly established in 2005, shortly after the foundation of the Confederazione Italiana Archeologi (Confederation of Italian Archaeologists), and was conceived as an open access space to foster dialogue among archaeologists focusing on archaeological professions as a whole, from public archaeology to professorship. The idea that underlies this new editorial project is to resume on a scientific ground the dialogue between public and private spheres in archaeology.