“And they always find in archeology “a series of small walls.”
Every time, a series of small walls. Everywhere you go. “We’ve found
a series of small walls, we’re very excited… I think this proves they
had walls in olden days. They were very small, and… a series of small
wall people.” And then someone comes along, very learned, with
glasses, “Of course, the king and queen entertained here… 1,500
courtiers, and there were soldiers, 20,000 soldiers in this room, and
elephants dancing hopscotch over there… A mad fiddler in this room,
playing the banjo, buttocks and aqueducts into a heater…” And you’re
just watching, and going, “You’re making this up, mate! You’re
just pointing at a series of small walls, going, ‘there, there…
Tutankhamen playing banjo in there…’ Don’t know if it’s
true.”” 
 Eddie Izzard (British stand-up Comedian and Actor)

 “We have archeology on television, and I quite like it; it’s a
sort of detective thing, but it’s really true, you know it’s there…
But it’s kind of slow on telly, it has this problem of, “We’ve
been here three weeks on live television, and we’ve taken off about a
millimeter of top soil so far…” There’s men with brushes and beards…
maybe they’ve just got beards, I’m not sure… “We found this and
carbon-dated it to last Tuesday, so we’re very excited…”” 
 Eddie Izzard 

"Archaeology is made up entirely of anomalies," said Terrence,
"rearranged to make them fit in a fluky pattern. There'd be no system to
it otherwise."
 R.A. [Raphael Aloysius] Lafferty "Continued on Next Rock"  (1970)
(Science Fiction Author)



 



Barbara J Hickman, Staff Archeologist
Archeological Studies Program
Environmental Affairs Division
Texas Department of Transportation
125 East 11th Street
Austin TX 78701
Telephone: 512.416.2637
Fax: 512.416.2643