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02/16/2005: "Understanding History with Ivor Noel Hume"

You can’t know about history unless you understand the science of archeology. The best way to start is to read one of Ivor Noel Hume’s books on his exploits digging up colonial Virginia. I like Martin’s Hundred for a start, my edition 1982, from the University of Virginia Press. Know Williamsburg? He dug up most of it during his career. He’ll tell you about the tools and the concepts of sterile areas, places that have not been touched, so that the layers of the uncovered refuse can be identified and placed correctly in time. He’ll tell you how to identify a piece of crockery or a chunk of clay pipe. Most of all, he’ll give you a way to debunk the omnipresent and unproved legends of Chesapeake history with the only scientific way to tell the actual truth of what really happened back then.