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archaeology
is a source of information about the past; our own past, “the here and then” so to say. Who do we want to have been? And how do we “know” that? Archaeology provides us with information about |
| the daily life of the past, of ordinary people, but as well about the very high and very low class people. It is a kind of “monkey watching” and as well: “how did people live back then without electricity, without all the comforts we now have? Were they smarter because they were more inventive with the simple means they had? Or were people back then more backward because they hadn’t invented yet all those things we now ...?” |
| “Who do we want to have been” also counts for the public. We can understand each other better if we know our own backgrounds, also those of our parents and ancestors. Of course we live in the present and not in the past. We can’t relive the past at all, but we can learn from it. Often this is even fun, both for the young and old. The public is very often quite interested, because the past is something personal, something very near. And a presentation with a low threshold is in that case an excellent means to bring the past closer by. |
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From 1987 onwards, there is a prehistoric-newly constructed settlement in the Natuurpark at Lelystad. When the first (Bronze Age) farm was constructed, Roeland Paardekooper spent many weekends and work weeks there. Ever since, much has happened: the settlement has moved within the Natuurpark to a top location near the entrance and the visitor centre and the them has changed in the for Flevoland important transition phase from the last hunters to the first farmers (new Stone Age). |
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This era, to which the settlement is friendly dubbed ‘Swifterkamp’, is important to the identity of the Province, the conception that before the ‘polder’ fell dry, there had been people living here before.
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| From the beginning of the 2000s, weather started to turn bad at the Lelystad horizon: content wise, organisation wise and finance wise. |
In 2006, Roeland Paardekooper was invited together with Bert van Valburg of Flexmanagement: the settlement really needed to act and change, else it would soon be ‘end of operation’. The combination of companies “Archeo Interface / Flexmanagement” were hired by the Province Flevoland and by the Summer of 2007, there is a plan unfolded, supported by the four important parties: the Flevoland Province, the City of Lelystad, Flevo-Landschap & the Nieuw land Erfgoedcentrum. |
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