Truth in History

On page 50-51 of Indian Burial Mounds, there is confusion based on a planted artifact. Decades previous to the discovery of this specific burial mound, a horse's skull had been planted within the mound as a prank to confuse future archaeologists. The skull did just that. Archaeologists were led to conclusions which they published base on false information.  it makes me wonder if there are other beliefs about the past that we have that may be misleading.

For example, the painting of the bird with either long legs, or on a stick might represent something spiritual, but what if the painter had just decided to paint the bird like that? There might have been no real meaning behind why, maybe he just liked it, or thought it amusing. On the other hand, there are no other birds painting such as this one. It could have been a religious image, yet there is the possibility that people examine this bird in search of religion, when it was created without a purpose.

If history is viewed in this critical way at all times, we could come to no conclusions about anything from the past. That is why it is important to gather large amounts of data. The more evidence there is, the less likely it will be that a single piece of information that differs from the rest will change our perceptions of the past. When religious artifacts are found, I think it is a good idea to keep the possibility that it may have no meaning in the back of your head. just because it survives the test of time, doesn't mean it serves a purpose.

 Im sure there will be toy action figures that wont break down, and will be dug up one day. What if those future archaeologist think that the toys were our gods because they found so many of them?