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Date: | Thu, 12 Oct 2006 10:24:24 -0400 |
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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.
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