19th October 2006, 04:19 PM
Good thread Searcher.
Let's see now, there's so many yesses that I'm inclined to play devil's advocate.
OK no, archaeology is not essential.
I interpret the question as meaning 'the practice of archaeology', and people got along just fine for a long time without it, relying on their skalds and scribes and old wives tales to negotiate their relationships with their past. Those relationships, however, are unavoidable; a pretty good candidate for something hardwired into our brains. If it was 'having a relationship with the past' that Searcher was referring to, I would call it inevitable, rather than essential.
That said, since a relationship with the past is unavoidable, and since dictating that relationship carries so much power, it becomes important to structure and mediate the re-creation of our collective pasts. I wonder if, years back, people had heated debates about the decline in skalding standards, or heiroglyphic bias caused by universal employment from the Pharoh. Nowadays, we have archaeologists. Some of us are re-structuring (finding stuff and saying what it is). Some of us are mediating (supplying views about importance of different stuff to the public and government). Some of us are pontificating (waiting around until three for a meeting that was supposed to start at nine). My signature looks a little redundant down there today, doesn't it. Hey ho, thanks for reading my waffle.
'Have a good plan, execute it violently, do it today'.
General MacArthur
Let's see now, there's so many yesses that I'm inclined to play devil's advocate.
OK no, archaeology is not essential.
I interpret the question as meaning 'the practice of archaeology', and people got along just fine for a long time without it, relying on their skalds and scribes and old wives tales to negotiate their relationships with their past. Those relationships, however, are unavoidable; a pretty good candidate for something hardwired into our brains. If it was 'having a relationship with the past' that Searcher was referring to, I would call it inevitable, rather than essential.
That said, since a relationship with the past is unavoidable, and since dictating that relationship carries so much power, it becomes important to structure and mediate the re-creation of our collective pasts. I wonder if, years back, people had heated debates about the decline in skalding standards, or heiroglyphic bias caused by universal employment from the Pharoh. Nowadays, we have archaeologists. Some of us are re-structuring (finding stuff and saying what it is). Some of us are mediating (supplying views about importance of different stuff to the public and government). Some of us are pontificating (waiting around until three for a meeting that was supposed to start at nine). My signature looks a little redundant down there today, doesn't it. Hey ho, thanks for reading my waffle.
'Have a good plan, execute it violently, do it today'.
General MacArthur