Where is Tan Dales
Content
Where I stand… I stand in the middle of nowhere, watching red clouds passing over my head – so do my thoughts. There are a lot of weird creatures set up by those clouds, formulating names.. Johnson, Clarke, Renfrew… On the other side, which could be called earth or just ground, there is empty space filled with thousands of shreds, bronze pieces, stones and little beetles, as small as ladybirds, toiling away at dust of archaeological reality. Laughing loud red cloud creatures spew out of their fat bodies mild spray of sweet lies, dressed in pink tailcoats and dancing roily waltz in the Victorian manner style. This creates new way of life for puzzleheaded ladybirds, throwing away hardly gathered and jealously guarded pieces of archaeological reality and starting dancing in the same rhythm. Where I stand? This short crazy impression from existing confusion in archaeological argumentation, interpretation, views of “what to look at and what to say about it” and finally spasmodic need of justification “why we should do archaeology” is just a small demonstration of how this could be understand by newcomer in such discussion. While in other disciplines of human doing, there is prevailing behavior of holding greyebards in high regard, archaeologists seem to forget fast everything, except the names. Names, which can be abused to criticism and/or so to justify own work shifted to theoretical level, where mistakes are never fatal. This reminds me one story of which I have been direct witness and which happened in one bank´s trading floor. Currency trader asked analyst where should head one specific currency cross in next few days horizon. The answers where as follows, clear and simple: Up, of course! Fine, answered trader, clear and simply, I just buy 100 millions of that cross and finally make some coins! Pure fright faced analyst shouted shortly: Well, it can stay on the same level or even fall down, I am just analyst, your risk man! – and he ran away fast, back to his warm office, back to his no risk analysis, which are never fatal. Mistakes are always trader´s job. So the risk is. Question: what are the analysts good for? Answer: to feed clients with nice formulated no risk theories. Theory in the meaning of a concept, that is not yet verified, but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena. If true. I think we are traders. We do take risk – • • • • •
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I do stand behind my results, even it goes wrong. My mistake, my responsibility. The least things I can improve are my knowledge, my horizon of viewing problems and accepting or rejecting different opinions. I learn from more experienced and try to add something new and/or beneficial to the problem I have chosen to solve. I always try to use all accessible data, devices and help I am able to obtain. I never leave my work unfinished from reason unknown. I feel my duty to mediate results to wide non-archaeological public.
We save the past for the future ones. And we have to do our best to explain the past to coevals. Both in the very strict implication.
If there is some site to be destruct by social needs, we go there and we proceed archaeological rescue excavation with all solicitude. On the other hand I think we should be very careful in opening new systematic excavation just to prove some hypothesis or theory. Rather - more valuable is to evaluate or re-evaluate old excavation and already collected data, waiting in the queue, with new devices and measures we are equipped with. To mediate those data in integral, easy-to-understand form as more or less closed case. For study purpose there should be all data easily accessible in user friendly form, should be clear to understand and affordable at least in one international language. I think these are general thoughts about what is most important for me at the very moment. However, there can be discussion what is meant by “more or less closed case”, “easy-to-understand form”, what should the final output consist of, etc. But it is a second level problem, lower priority one. We can not do hard science out of it. We can not built special department for it. It dissipates our forces while at the same moment tens of sites are being destroyed by not announced buildings or from other reasons and thousands of artefacts are stolen. So where I stand now? I may stand in the middle ……
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I do stand behind my results, even it goes wrong. My mistake, my responsibility. The least things I can improve are my knowledge, my horizon of viewing problems and accepting or rejecting different opinions. I learn from more experienced and try to add something new and/or beneficial to the problem I have chosen to solve. I always try to use all accessible data, devices and help I am able to obtain. I never leave my work unfinished from reason unknown. I feel my duty to mediate results to wide non-archaeological public.
We save the past for the future ones. And we have to do our best to explain the past to coevals. Both in the very strict implication.
If there is some site to be destruct by social needs, we go there and we proceed archaeological rescue excavation with all solicitude. On the other hand I think we should be very careful in opening new systematic excavation just to prove some hypothesis or theory. Rather - more valuable is to evaluate or re-evaluate old excavation and already collected data, waiting in the queue, with new devices and measures we are equipped with. To mediate those data in integral, easy-to-understand form as more or less closed case. For study purpose there should be all data easily accessible in user friendly form, should be clear to understand and affordable at least in one international language. I think these are general thoughts about what is most important for me at the very moment. However, there can be discussion what is meant by “more or less closed case”, “easy-to-understand form”, what should the final output consist of, etc. But it is a second level problem, lower priority one. We can not do hard science out of it. We can not built special department for it. It dissipates our forces while at the same moment tens of sites are being destroyed by not announced buildings or from other reasons and thousands of artefacts are stolen. So where I stand now? I may stand in the middle ……
