Storytelling, it can be argued, is an essential element of the archaeologist’s craft. It is because of the necessity for storytelling that archaeology has one foot in the arts and the other in the sciences. Storytelling is more than interpretation borne of observation and the gathering and testing of evidence. It inevitably brings us as individuals into the reconstructions of the past that we assemble during the course of our work. Yet while it is inevitable that we ‘bring to the ‘‘facts’’ our feelings’, supposition, hypothesis, and theory are not enough. Theoretical constructs are necessary, yet archaeologists are engaged in a constant search to find replacements for those that have failed. Archaeologists, professional and amateur alike, have long agreed in principle that acceptable practice demands good data, well collected, and accurately recorded in order to lend credibility to interpretation. An empirical approach to archaeological research relies on the recording of observable manifestations of culture, reasoning backwards from phenomenon to mechanism. This method of exploring human behaviour directly through observed evidence is not always in vogue but is more satisfying to some archaeologists than juggling conceptual abstractions. Archaeologists are individuals, possessed of distinctive personalities, talents and inclinations. We work differently, see differently, feel differently, but for all that we have a bond of commonality—we all understand imperfectly. Honest dispute engenders scrutiny, inspires exploration and promotes progress in a Weld of investigation in which understanding is imperfect and veriWcation elusive. Debate and challenge are key tools in the advancement of archaeological enquiry and the profession demands that, in the interests of progress, we cast ourselves constantly in the role of devil’s advocate. Honesty dictates, however, that we also acknowledge the sources of our inspiration, the ‘giants’ on whose shoulders we have stood in our search for the new horizons, the building blocks we have used as the basis of our research. Underpinning fruitful research is data, the record of the evidence, in whatever form it takes—the archives of unpublished fieldwork, the mountain of ‘grey literature’ that grows with each passing year, the finds and manuscripts under the bed, the published reports.
Earth’s carbon deficit caused by early loss through irreversible sublimation
