The constructed past: experimental archaeology, education and the public.

The constructed past: experimental archaeology, education and the public. PETER G. STONE & PHILIPPE G. PLANEL (ed) The constructed past:experimental archaeology Experimental archaeology employs a number of different methods, techniques, analyses, and approaches in order to generate and test hypotheses or an interpretation, based upon archaeological source material, like ancient structures or artifacts. , education and the public. xx+303 pages, 81figures, 5 tables. 1999. London & New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of (NY): Routledge;0-415-11768-2 hardback 80 [pounds sterling]. Dr MERRIMAN introduces 10 good papers on opportunities and problemsin presenting history museums (mostly British and Continental) tovisitors. S. Pearce provides a systematic analysis of the process ofpresentation. There are case studies of displays and visitors'responses. J. Owen considers `hands on' display. S. Lucy & C.Herring discuss particular problems in coping with visitors'perceptions of the `Dark Ages'. A recurring theme is embarrassmentabout curators' interpretive in��ter��pre��tive? also in��ter��pre��ta��tiveadj.Relating to or marked by interpretation; explanatory.in��terpre��tive��ly adv. authority; but more thought is neededon the match between visitors' tone and their own. There areseveral good contributions on reconstruction, including dioramas (cf.the following title); and see N. Merriman too, ed. MCMANAMON &HATTON (`Resource and data management', above) on `the crisis ofrepresentation in archaeological museums'. In a book more fun and more consistently instructive than mostothers spinning off from the 1990 and 1994 World ArchaeologicalCongresses, Drs STONE & PLANEL present 20 papers on reconstruction(seven on the UK, eight on elsewhere in Europe). Among the highlightsare contributions on Williamsburg (I.N. Hume), `Reconstruction vs.preservation-in-place' in US National Parks, the Globe theatre inLondon, Butser, the Archaeological Resource Centre (ARC) in York (andsee the next title), Lejre, and `the open air museum at Oerlinghausen,Germany' from 1936 to today. A highly impressive roster contributes 13 papers full of good senseand experience on Communicating archaeology. Books and television arecovered, schooling, university courses and adult education, museums, theARC again, local societies, and the Young Archaeologists' Club.They come with an appreciative piece on the exemplary dedicatee ded��i��ca��tee?n.One to whom something, such as a literary work, is dedicated. (and oneon professionalism). Warns A. Lawson (p. 33), `ignore good communicationat your peril'. Kilmartin, indeed, is an appealing booklet describing, withsplendid pictures, the history of an Argyllshire landscape from theMesolithic and Neolithic to the early Modern period. It explains how thelocal pattern relates to the broader scene of Scotland and includesbrief passages on archaeology and landscape archaeology Landscape archaeology is a body of method and theory for the study of the material traces of past peoples within the context of their interactions in the wider (typically regional) social and natural environment they inhabited. . It also setsout the routes of 22 walks with notes on historic features. An amplelist of readings is appended. Few local organizations could emulate theKilmartin House museum without like help from the Heritage Lottery Fund.