1st August 2006, 10:52 AM
I think that " Joe Public and his family" want a more romantic/ fantasy version of the past. Last Sunday, by chance ,I happended on an " Iron Age" pageant at an hill-fort in Wiltshire. It was in aid of opening a shelter in the form of an Iron Age round house and was well attended by the neo iron age inhabitants in their drapes and pre-raphaelite interpretations of the past. However what drew the most attention was not the archaeology, not the fine Iron Age style hut but the two fantasy wizards complete with "pet dragon pupets on their arms.
We wrap archeology up in the mundane and fail to tell interesting stories of the past and so "Joe Public" looks for something more interesting , more entertaining and hebeleives what he is told if its what he wants to hear.
We wrap archeology up in the mundane and fail to tell interesting stories of the past and so "Joe Public" looks for something more interesting , more entertaining and hebeleives what he is told if its what he wants to hear.