A Citizen's View on Public Archaeology and Heritage in Austria

In this article, I describe the current opportunities for citizen participation in archaeology and heritage in Austria. I introduce some associations and organisations that carry out archaeological projects with citizen participation then discuss the Austrian monument protection law and explain why it is difficult even with political consent to start such initiatives. I move on to explain who should still benefit from archaeology and monument preservation and what is the best way of dealing with the public. Finally, I introduce a new entity called 'bridge builders', which aims to reduce the barrier between science and the public, while at the same time promoting cooperation