ABSTRACT
This book is about the confluence of four approaches to the interpretation and presentation of the past: academic or theoretical archaeology; indigenous views of the past; school history; and the past as presented to the general public in museums and at 'historic sites'. All four approaches have their own priorities and agendas but, although they frequently draw on different sets of data, they have as their common thread the interpretation of past human activity. Central to all of the following chapters is a belief that the presentation of the past, in school curricula and in museum and site interpretations, will benefit from a greater understanding of how the past is interpreted by archaeologists and/or indigenous peoples.
