Mark and Lees have made a very important point. There is, however, 
one very positive aspect to this lack of historic memory. If you are 
running an archaeological project with students and working on 20th 
century sites much of material recovered is "ancient" and romantic to 
the student excavators. On our New Jersey project we found a small 
Lone Ranger sheriff's badge and almost none of our students knew who 
the Lone Ranger (not to mention Tonto) was.

In the lab on two occasions students drew the small aluminium film 
cans we use because they looked so odd and ancient to them. We had to 
tell them, no, not the can, there is something in the can.

However, it must be admitted that most of the "old timers" did not 
remember the name of Tonto's horse. Everyone knows "Silver" but who 
is --------.

What is the half-life (or better, normal seriation) of elements of 
popular culture and why do some elements (e.g. Frank Sinatra) cross 
multiple generations while most do not. There is also recycling (e.g. 
an Art Deco Subway Station built recently in Philadelphia).

Bob Schuyler

At 10:08 AM 1/23/2008, you wrote:
>Geezer Mark has hit upon a very vital point that we are increasingly
>going to confront in public archaeology and archaeological
>interpretation, and indeed on helping people to see the importance and
>relevance of archaeology.  This is also a point that is impacting all of
>historical interpretation.  Children of today are increasingly
>disconnected with the cultures and economies and material cultures of
>our collective past in a way that has not been the case previously.  In
>many ways a child growing up in the 1940s (1960s?), especially growing
>up in a rural setting, had more in common with children growing up 200
>years earlier than with children growing up today.  Things that us
>geezers look at and understand simply are not part of the cultural
>knowledge of children of  today and will not be part of the cultural
>knowledge of the adults of tomorrow (and, as we have seen, is not part
>of the cultural knowledge of some of the adults of today!).
>
>Our challenge is that we will increasingly have to back up and start our
>interpretation by explaining some very basic concepts about the past if
>we ever hope to be able to explain the more complex and to us the more
>interesting facts that we learn through archaeology and history.  The
>problem is that in presenting an interpretation to the public there are
>a very limited number of topics--five at the very most--that you can
>hope they will recall, and we are given only a limited amount of time
>and words to explain these five or fewer topics.
>
>To make matters worse is the current trend in education to focus on math
>and science and to downplay or ignore social science and
>history--children are not even coming away from school with much of a
>social or historical context for the interpretations that we hope to
>deliver to them.
>
>On a positive note, archaeology education is one of the best avenues
>around for getting the attention of teachers and children and to light
>their little fires about the past that is ever the more foreign and
>increasingly intriguing. Three cheers for public archaeology!!!
>
>William B. Lees, Ph.D., RPA, Executive Director
>Florida Public Archaeology Network
>University of West Florida
>www.flpublicarchaeology.org
>
>Street Address:
>207 East Main Street, Pensacola
>Mailing address:
>PO Box 12486
>Pensacola, FL 32591-2486
>Email: [log in to unmask]
>Phone: 850-595-0051
>MOBILE: 850-293-4492
>FAX: 850-595-0052
>-----Original Message-----
>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mark
>Branstner
>Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 3:50 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: The perplexing artifact
>
>Hi all,
>
>Just a random thought ...
>
>Having grown up in the 1950s and early 1960s, either in a small
>northern Michigan town or visiting my grandparents in the country, I
>have been exposed to material culture and lifeways that certainly
>extend well back into the latter half the 19th century ...  The poor
>kids had outhouses, still trapped for spending money, and horses were
>still seen in at least limited use on local farms.
>
>There was certain continuity between the past and the present that
>was predictable and understandable.
>
>On the other hand, some of the younger members of our fraternity, who
>were born roughly coincident with the arrival of the personal
>computer, are at a total disconnect with much of the material culture
>that many of us take for granted ...  Although at 56, I really don't
>feel like an "old timer," the increasingly rapid disconnect between
>the past and the present is, at best, disconcerting.
>
>So, when one of our younger number presents what to them is a
>"perplexing artifact," I promise to check my initial reaction (shock,
>smugness) and do my best to responsibly reply with the "vast" store
>of knowledge that I apparently retain in my short-term memory :-) ,
>when appropriate.
>
>Geezerly yours,
>
>Mark
>
>--
>
>Mark C. Branstner, RPA
>Historic Archaeologist
>
>Illinois Transportation
>Archaeological Research Program
>209 Nuclear Physics Lab, MC-571
>23 East Stadium Drive
>Champaign, IL 61820
>
>Phone: 217.244.0892
>Fax: 217.244.7458
>Cell: 517.927.4556
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
>"I hope there's pudding" - Luna Lovegood (HP5)

Robert L. Schuyler
University of Pennsylvania Museum
3260 South Street
Philadelphia, PA l9l04-6324

Tel: (215) 898-6965
Fax: (215) 898-0657
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