Have you ever tried to explain something or offer advice to a teenage child? They often look at you like you are from Mars. They figure you don't understand what they are going through and couldn't possibly help their situation. This is the attitude the general public takes with Archaeology. Archaeologists are the minority of teenagers who realize that our "parents" have been through some of the very same things we are now facing. We have something to learn about the successes and failures of the people who lived before us in the same way a young adult could learn from his parents. Human behavior is patterned. Archaeology is not a luxury, without it we are all doomed to repeat our past mistakes. Isn't there a famous quote describing that very thing? Most of what Archaeologists learn becomes buried in an archive somewhere or at best, debated within academic circles. The public has no idea what we are doing or why we are doing it. I believe Archaeology is capable of helping to solve many of the problems faced in modern society much in the same way we have something to offer our children.


Charles Alexander
 


 

> Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:56:15 +0000
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re TT
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> I f there was a referendum on such things most of the people on this 
> list would be out of a job as many in the public see us as 
> over-educated, self satisfied leaches frittering their tax dollars on 
> luxury projects. A touch of populism if it explains anything of why 
> archaeology is important or interesting does no harm especially in the 
> current economic climate. Remember hundreds of sites are currently -this 
> minute- being bulldozed, plowed (American sp?) out or dug with 
> inadequate budgets and resources all over the planet.
> 
> pc
 		 	   		  
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