George et al,
 
Archaeology is a handful of jigsaw puzzle pieces and we use our theoretical  
approaches to interpret the partial picture. Even when our minds connect the  
picture, we then have to draw upon analogies (often unclear or incorrect) to  
understand what it said. The varying skills of the practitioner, sometimes  
dependent on their training but usually limited by their brain power, and the  
limitations on funding usually determine the outcome of the interpretation. 
And,  we are continually snared by false photos of history (eg. the so-called 
Civil  War battlefields that were actually staged by photographers and then shot 
at  different angles to depict the "Union" or "Confederate" dead). Who is to 
say if  the cartographer falsified or got creative in map-making or if a 
Sanborn Fire  Insurance map maker got lazy? Then there are the idiosyncracies of 
history  itself, such as a lazy farmer who did not bother to tear down an out 
house over  a full privy and just built another one next door. And, you know, 
some of those  crazy European immigrants brought more than their bibles and 
crucifixes to  America when they hid old shoes behind fireplaces, embedded cats in 
the walls,  and bent coins or scissors under the floorboards. Not only are we 
burdened with  most of the jigsaw puzzle missing, but our own training and 
inattentive minds  can really mess with proper interpretation of what we think we 
see.
 
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.