Udomluck Hoontrakul

I am interested in the difference of perception and meaning of the past. The "same" past could be interpreted by the archaeologist and the community. The former claims the knowledge of history and is based on scientific evidence, whereas the latter the traditional knowledge based on stories transmitted over generation. This interest is, I think, very much in line with the work on field methods in archaeology at Taos, New Mexico, run by Dr. Sunday Eiselt. The project combines the field survey and excavation, laboratory techniques together with the emphasis on regional cultural histories, cultural resource law. As I understand it, the archaeological site a Taos is a site of diverse interpretations, from Native American communities, Hispanic communities, to the "modern" communities. My experiences in Thailand could hold dialogue with knowledge to gain from richer archaeological experiences at Taos. I wish to equip myself with the fields yet to be developed in Thailand including, the problems of heritage management, and of archaeological methodologies and theories. We also have problems with a deeper understanding of the ecological and cultural context of archaeological site. Learning about archaeology in the scientific sense and its relationship with the communities could provide me with a greater scope of vision for what we have been doing in Norther Thailand.