digging for the truth

[random4233]

has anyone else seen this show 'digging for the truth' on the history channel? http://www.history.com/minisites/diggingforthetruth/

i've just discovered it and it kind of makes me want to cringe.  i think it's admirable that they want to make archaeology more accessible to the public but some of the questions they investigate are kind of ridiculous

Comments

[kenosis]

I, for one, am amazed the Hitler History Channel would have to embellish what anthropologists actually do so that the public would find it interesting - and interesting enough to make a running show about it.

[admirari]

i read in ratemyprofessors.com a review about my super-fabulous instructor in which the student said he made a "boring" subject seem interesting. This was Anth 200 - intro to bio. so a lot of GEC kids in there. But still - how is evolution boring?!

[kenosis]

This is about being an archaeologist, though, not about the discipline of anthropology (which I do find very interesting) - archaeologists being the people that, for the most part, analyze data, write reports and classify stuff.

[random4233]

archaeologists are just data heads. we do have to interpret our data within an anthropological framework. the data means nothing without any theory to interpret it and that relies heavily on ethnographic analogy.

[random4233]

sorry are NOT just data heads.

[kenosis]

Data is never really meant for the sake of data itself - one would hope it's purposeful. My point, though, is that I don't think a show about what archaeologists really, strictly do is going to work well for most people.