POPULARIZATION OF ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE CONTEXT OF “CONTESTED TERRITORIES” (CASE STUDY OF ARKAIM)

This article is devoted to the applied potential of the “contested territories” concept in the activities of museums-reserves popularizing archaeology ae well. The article considers this activity in the aspect of communication strategies aimed at visitors to museums-r eserves with diff erent epistemic motivations and without scientifi cally SHAPE \* MERGEFORMAT oriented interest. The article consists of three parts. Firstly, it off ers a brief overview of works addressing the topics of archaeology popularization (foreign and Russian ones), allowing us to identify a certain one-way direction of such popularization formats, designed for schoolchildren or users who are obviously epistemically loyal to scientifi c knowledge to a greater extent. Secondly, using the example of the situation of the Chelyabinsk State Historical and Archaeological Museum-R eserve “Arkaim”, where fl ows of diff erently motivated visitors intertwine, a signifi cant part of whom are people interested in Arkaim as a “place of power”, the prospects of Ian Rotherham’s approach are considered, who proposed applying the concept of “contested territories” to such spaces and building tourism management taking into account the needs of each group. Thirdly, according to observations carried out during ten expeditions to Arkaim in 2023-2024 with the support of the Russian Science Foundation and the Chelyabinsk Region, the article reveals the possibilities of applying the concept of “contested territories” in transmitting archaeological knowledge to the total fl ow of visitors (regardless of the main motivation for visiting).