ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an introduction to costumed interpretation methods presently used with the general public and proceed to question their value in the task of 'peopling the past'. Although archaeology is a long established academic discipline, that of on-site interpretation to a broad public is still relatively young and it is much in need of research into its impact on the public. Growth in the use of human interpreters on archaeological sites in Britain may be attributed to a number of influences not least of which are the increasing interest of the public in their origins and the desire to establish some kind of historical context for them. In the USA and Canada a very different approach has been taken to costumed site interpretation. The pioneering work of the American National Park Service and Parks Canada in interpretive planning has resulted in the establishment of precise objectives for each element of interpretive programmes.
