About two or three years ago, someone sent me a news article about a local
community in England that rose up in arms over a proposed bulldozing of a
natural rock pile. The bulldozer operator worked for a real estate developer and
both were shocked to find several dozen really angry senior and elderly people
standing in front of the dozer. At issue was a deeply ingrained and ancient
belief that fairies live in and around the boulders. In the end, the
developer backed-off and directed the bulldozer to leave the site. Now this plays
back to Laurie Burgess' comment on how historical archaeologists react to things
like shoe concealments in fireplace chimneys. American archaeologists seem
capable of accepting that a Chumash native can believe that spirits roam the
earth and are more sensitive in some seasons than another, but completely deny
that British or European Americans are capable of belief in things like
fairies. I find that just amazing, even for archaeologists who do not come from
anthropology programs.
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.
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