I'm rather sure that historians ("our job is to create the necessary
past" according to one Soviet-era Russian historian) ignore archaeology
at will. I recall visiting reconstructed historical villages in
northern Sweden & Finland (equivalents of Colonial Wiliamsburg, which I
also have visited). Houses all had a wax figure of a "typical" early
Swede/Finn Bjorn Borg/Elke Sommer look-alike performing some mundane
chore. Comparing the size of the reconstructed individuals with the
dimensions of the archaeologically attested beds, tables, door heights,
and graves, life (and the thereafter) for these Nordic hearties was
spent slouching and/or bent in half. A Saami, however, would have felt
right at home.
--Ken Jacobs
James H Brothers IV wrote:
>
> I'm not sure that very many historians read archaeology. One classic example is
> the reconstruction of tavern at Colonial Williamsburg. During the excavation, the
> actual garden beds and wlaks were found. Yet the reconstruction has the paths
> running 90° out from what was found. According to the "Master" gardener "I don't
> care what you found, this is the way they should have been."
>
> I'm sure there are equally good examples elsewhere.
>
> JH Brothers IV
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|