ABSTRACT
Archaeology investigates the past through the medium of material things. Yet it is increasingly clear that we do not simply reconstruct the way that things were. Instead, we establish a relationship between the past and the present. This relationship can be conceived as a kind of conversation, to which we bring a variety of expectations and prejudices, and from which we receive challenges and surprises (Gadamer 1975: 236). The past never fully reveals itself to us, but through our continued engagement we learn more, both about past worlds and about ourselves. The self-recognition that emerges from this process involves an increasing awareness of our own assumptions and prejudices: the conceptual ‘baggage’ that we tend to impose on the past. Considered in this way, the perceived distance between the past and the present is not so much a barrier to understanding as a productive space (ibid.: 264). Yet the dialogue between the two cultural and historical contexts is one that requires our active participation in giving the past a significance, and in appreciating our own position in the present (Warnke 1987: 68; Johnsen and Olsen 1992: 426).
