VIII 

 ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 



(PROFESSOR W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE) 



THE nature of proof is more complex than it seems 

 to be at first sight. True enough, all proof is merely 

 a matter of common sense ; it does not appeal to any 

 different faculty. And though a proof may follow as 

 simply as possible from the facts, yet it cannot be under- 

 stood by one who is not familiar with the facts to begin 

 with. Trigonometry is the most obvious common sense 

 to any one familiar with the formulae ; and the formulae 

 themselves are only common sense to any one who takes 

 the trouble to argue them through. Yet, for all that, 

 trigonometry is not obvious to the ignorant. In the 

 same way the evidences about the past of man are 

 simple and clear when the facts and methods from which 

 they are deduced are already known. Yet it requires 

 a good familiarity with the material before the conclu- 

 sions can be felt to be self-evident results. 



To follow clearly what evidence and proof means, it is 

 best to refer to a class of evidence which is most familiar 

 to the reader. What is commonly called legal evidence is 

 the best-known example, as it is met every day in law 

 cases and police reports. Evidence is based on the same 

 principles, in whatever subject it may be ; there is not 

 one logic for the present, and a different logic for the 

 past. But the kind of evidence, the exactitude, the 

 certainty, which is considered enough to determine 



