I guess in that case, being asked by historians to actually examine
something, event or site would be a duty and an honor, even if to
negate, corroborate or "prove" some aspect of history.  Even some
early Sanskrit poem (one in mind each stanza of verse begins "adyapi"
"even now" ) functions as a recounting or oral history one might
examine archaeologically.

Lately I've had some night vewing of soils, perhaps part of a recorded
"oral" writing. A Frenchman said something to the affect after the
American Revolution, that "it seems the Americans have solved their
unemployment problem" in regards to the fairly large number (then) of
unemployed war veterans. He states they, armed with wheelbarrows,
upwards of 5,000 I think, were employed in leveling parts of the
"island of hills" Manhattan is (in a history book of that island) and
filling in the swamps and shorelines of the nascent nation's new
capital, New York City. I have often wondered about the correlation
myself, since reading it, between the economics of "recession" and
"expansion" of properties into the Hudson River, East River and bay
destroying many of the former battlements and military structures
shown on some maps, if in fact they were there. One of the first
recorded was Golden Hill I think near John Street, perhaps before the
revolution, as the Dutch were fond of digging slips up to there
warehousing.

I once compiled an overlay of maps of shoreline outlines for the
historical archaeology museum and exhibit space "New York Unearthed"
at 17 State Street across from Battery Park (which has a wild turkey
walking around in it) built when a developer went through the standing
structures without permission, one housed the author Herman Melville,
author of "Moby-Dick" and other American sea travel writings. I was
told it was kind of popular with the visitors.

George Myers

George Myers