the truth about history
by uzwi
Judging by the present, all our interpretations of deep-historical human behaviour are over-dignified. Instead of, “This item was probably part of a religious ceremony,” for instance, we should always prefer: “They used this as part of some stupid fad.” Or: “It was that generation’s version of the Yo Yo.” Archeology by kitsch: foundational myth as pulp: the Mysteries as am-dram. Melinda dresses like a mermaid and sits on a rock staring out to sea. In the arena, Ronnie is pretending he can jump bull. Bull-jumping used to be a dangerous sport, but with today’s techniques and equipment, anyone can have fun at it. Later, they’ll go up to the limestone caves and watch the dogging. Then Melinda rests her head on Ronnie’s shoulder in the warm dark and you can hear her say: “It was a lovely holiday but let’s do something else next year. Everyone’s going to Hittite Anatolia these days.” Fantasy that rips off history should always take account of this.
the m john harrison blog 
Yis.
“Fantasy that rips off history should always take account of this.”
Tried it, wrote taking it into account.
They said it was wrong.
They used words like ‘implausible’ and ‘anachronistic’.
Screw them – the fools can’t even spell ‘anachronistic’ (but they can probably write in in High Elvish) 😉
This has occurred to me a few times. Everything in the past is lumbered with some heavy significance. I was watching a thing about Aztecs and how they found all these statues with the noses knocked off them. The historians were on talking about how it was probably a rebellion against idols or gods or something.
Nope, if you know anything about human nature it was probably some drunk bloke who decided to knock the noses off a bunch of statues for no real reason or for a laugh.
this kind of stuff http://io9.com/5616498/ultraviolet-light-reveals-how-ancient-greek-statues-really-looked