ABSTRACT
Before one starts doing archaeology, one usually agrees to a proposition similar to the following: In some way or other the material culture known is a source material by means of which one can give a reasonable description and interpretation of the past. What has been preserved comprises of two phenomena: (1) the source material, which always has a presence, albeit rooted in the past, and (2) the records, which are the stuff that history is made of and are not a fair reflection of the past. The archaeological/historical record is (1) a result of conscious usage of a past to create present and future cultural expressions, (2) a result of the power which one have and (3) a result of the power that one have to renegotiate the status of these records. The chapter discusses the most pressing questions when it comes to archaeology as history and its relation to empirical facts with reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet.
