The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

The past in the present
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little razzmatazz, through to the
intensively marketed ‘heritage
attraction’ where ‘the past comes
alive’ in a way that is more theatre
than exhibition (Figure 17.8). Across
this spectrum there is also a visible
shift from the authentic at one end
to the fabricated at the other.
Motivation and purpose is an
important consideration when
judging these kinds of facility. Some
wholly fabricated reconstructions,
like Butser Hill Iron Age farm in
Hampshire or Bede’s World in
Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, are serious
scientific experiments, carefully
researched, and packaged in a way
that maintains their integrity as well
as providing a good visitor
experience. The highly popular
Jorvik Centre in York comes close to this too, being
a reconstruction based on, and situated exactly over,
the excavated remains of one small part of the
Viking city.
Simple structures and monuments in the
countryside are hard to present to the public to
everyone’s satisfaction, and raise many interesting
issues of interpretation. To what extent should the
things presented be authentic? Do the visiting public
discern between what is real and what is not? Again
the picture is far from simple, with progression from
the wholly authentic, through the restored, to the
reconstructed (Figure 17.9), and on again to the
totally fabricated. At Guardianship properties
managed by English Heritage, the policy is to
consolidate as found, in other words not to add
anything or take anything away but simply to make
safe whatever is there when they take the site over.
Even this can be misleading, however, because the
Victorians in particular were great restorers and some
of what is visible at well-known monuments today
is little more than 100 years old. Moreover,
painstaking research is often needed to spot the
additions. The Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire
provide a good example (Lambrick 1988). This wellknown
and much visited stone circle today comprises
about 73 upright stones in what appears to be an
almost perfect ring. Studies by the Oxford
Figure 17.7 Conservation in action: restoration and consolidation in
progress at Lulworth Castle, Dorset.
Source: Timothy Darvill
Figure 17.8 Heritage at work: the Morwellham Quay
Heritage centre, Devon.
Source: Timothy Darvill