PLSO July/August 2019

From the Editor 3 boundary that I had been tasked to re- solve garnered additional scrutiny, there would be no misunderstanding about what I did or why. Returning to the subject of archaeolo- gy as it relates to our work, my guided trip through Roman ruins in Italy was a graphic reminder of how little we know about the means and methods of Roman or Etruscan construction, who these arti- sans were, their training and so on. If you look back at ancient sites like Stonehenge or the statues on Easter Island, wouldn’t it be a lot simpler if some ancient labor- er had put his/her means and methods down in writing, thereby eliminating the thousands of years of research involved in trying to determine how things were built, why they were oriented in such a way, and what other influences were in- volved in their creation? Imagine where we’d be even today in the understand- ing of all things Egyptian if there hadn’t been a happenstance discovery of a stone called “Rosetta.” I realize that there are many ancient works that predate the de- velopment of written language, so I can understand the complexities involved in unraveling the mysteries surrounding the creation of ancient structures, but hey, that was a long time ago. Wouldn’t we be better served, now that we have the luxury of language and writing, to be absolutely clear about what we did and why? I know, from my own experience traveling around Rome that my curiosity meter was pegged in the red and I cer- tainly don’t have a team of experts to sort out all the questions I might have had, but then, I wouldn’t need those if I’d had a good narrative in my hand to elim- inate any speculation about how things were done. I think any surveyor who reads this editori- al without an eye toward the future should start thinking over the horizon. Relative to Italy and other European countries, America is a young country, so as sur- veyors, we can be looked upon as those folks who are involved in laying some of the cornerstones of our own history. In that regard, I see this as a sacred respon- sibility, one which shouldn’t be treated in a cavalier manner. We need to practice as if our records will last more than 2000 years, for the sake of future generations or, in lieu of the demise of our civiliza- tion, for interstellar travelers who arrive on our planet and wonder what all the obvious evidence of civilization meant. Okay, so you found an old stone with a chiseled cross on the top. What led you to that location, what evidence did you employ to develop your search area, what tools did you use, and most of all, why did you choose to accept it? Answer those questions and maybe, when your work is scrutinized under the microscope of litigation, it won’t be seen as alterna- tive facts!  x