Archaeology proves nothing

[Comarch]

Indeed archaeology is about evidence so as archaeologists our duty is to record that evidence to the best our abilities.

I don?t imagine the early archaeological pioneers dreamt of DNA analysis or C14 and there may be technologies in the future beyond our ability to imagine.

Ways of modelling the interpretation of the evidence also change as society changes. The past is not fixed it has gone and can only be accessed through the mirror of the present.

Until the invention of the time machine we cannot say that any interpretation is final and even then (unless the time machine enables you to experience the world view of the person who created the evidence) whole sections of the why and wherefore of the past are forever beyond our grasp.

This is what I like about archaeology I know I may never be able to understand the past but I can touch it and it touches me. Over thousands of years there is still a direct relationship between me and those long dead generations behind me.

I am aware for some societies the past is not dead but a living part of their daily existence and for them archaeology may be totally irrelevant or even a blasphemy. Sometimes I envy them.}

Terry Prachett has it right, Man is the Story Telling Ape and those stories have their own driving force. (never let the facts get in the way of a good story:face-stir

Indeed. Archaeology will only ever give us a small view of the past - very small. Its like looking through a pinhole to view a world sized picture. The only way we can avoid the tyranny of the 'dominant view' is continued debate amongst archaeologists and the fluid consensus of the rest of the people as to what the relevance of the past is to them. That is why we need am informed public and not worry, or debase and abuse (as in the previous comment somewhere above), what people may take from that information. We need only try and present that information with our own interpretations, which are also influenced by the same environment as everybody else. Also, stories and myth are a vital link to the minds of past peoples as seen through surviving threads existing today. A pot is just a piece of clay - it is the mind of the person who made it, designed it, decorated it, that we are interested in, not just the pot itself. The ideas and use will have been affected by the stories, religion, myths and fairy tales in the past, as they are today - why is that chalice that shape, a future archaeologist might say? I agree with a previous comment that proof is not the point - its the story.

[BAJR]

Turning into a most thoughtful and thought provoking discussion... this is more like the bajr forum I love

[Wax]

I am an Archaeologist = "I think therefore I am" :face-kiss:

[Comarch]

I am an Archaeologist = "I think therefore I am" :face-kiss:

Most archaeologists I know would say "I drink therefore I'm spam". Any views on the value of myth to the study of the past?:face-stir:

[BAJR]

ah... I spoke too soon! :face-confused:

[Wax]

Apologies to Mr B for being frivolous but it is Friday:I

Mythology and archaeology now there is an interesting subject

The thing to remember about myths is that their original creators had an agenda whether it is to illustrate how much better things were in the good old days when things were done properly or to illustrate how people should behave.

They can be deeply rooted in a society’s view of itself and that includes modern myths.

A myth tells you about how a society was thinking not necessarily what that society was doing.

Some myths and legends may have some factual basis but they rapidly become something else. If they hit a particular resonance with the human condition they become self perpetuating taking on a much deeper meaning than the physical events from which they may have originated.

I do not believe in Atlantis, Shangri-La, Heaven, Hell or Cyberspace (no folks it isn’t real it’s just electronic impulses zapping backwards and forwards to create an illusion of reality)

But I do believe in the state of the human mind that creates them all.