Myth and Mammoth in Archaeology

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Abstract
Traditions have an incalculable appeal to the human mind. Often tenuous, remote, impossible to prove, they are occasionally startling. The frustrated researcher upon some fascinating problem of human history which fails, otherwise, of solution comes again and again to the consideration of floating tales which seem to hold a kernel of truth, a hint—just a faint hint—of veracity masked in the trappings of legend. Such material may be used, but on the whole it is ghostly, disembodied, and unverifiable. Lacking corroboration, it fails to bring conviction. Often the tale has been borne by some single native who, long since disappeared into forest anonymity, is no longer available for questioning. His story may, however, have passed through several intermediate hands and be quoted in old books whose scholarship is naive. The result is that, use these sources as we may, we turn seriously to other more tangible means of establishing truth. Then, if the search languishes, we are prone to return, still captivated, to the tale spun long ago.

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