This blog
focuses on the consideration of our own culture in the past tense. It is
basically relevant to extend the time frame in question back to the early years
of the industrial and consumer revolution, sometime in the early 1700s. The
beginnings of the western culture that we know today. That brings me to my day
job as an historical archaeologist.
In that job,
we are assigned to interpret the meanings and circumstances behind the ruins
and artifacts left in the ground by people long dead. There is an implied
“resurrection” of sorts – of some aspect of architecture, material surroundings,
or daily life. We follow rules of empiricism and logic, and we tell ourselves that we build conclusions based on observable facts.
Well, yes and
no.
We do manage
to sketch some pretty remarkable outlines of past places, events and lifetimes.
And we can say a few things with a certain degree of authority. Some amazing
things, actually. But we are constantly on shaky ground, due to the natural
laws of decay and fragile memory. We must bridge the gaps of decomposition and
forgetting with certain assumptions, often based on Occam's Razor, which states that the simplest
explanation is usually the correct one.
This brings us
to the Umbrella Man, a short film by Errol Morris. On the surface, it is about a strange character seen
at the site of Kennedy’s assassination. But what it is really about is the potential for seemly nonsensical factors behind
any historical circumstance. Once you look too close - when you really attempt to read each detail - probability,
predictability, and Occam's Razor itself may fall apart. This perspective can
threaten to make a monkey out of any historical or archaeological study.
This cuts to
the heart of the theme of abandonment and decay present on this and so many
other blogs. The suggestions made by patina, and by the gulf between what happened
and what we bring to the remains of what happened. That is the fun part.
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