Sophia Wilson
Perceptions of heritage
Assessment 1
10th November 2003
A countries history and heritage is the most important thing to it, it tells them who they are and where they come from, by knowing this they have a feeling of knowing where they are going and gives them a strong sense of identity (I.Donnachie, C.Whatley 1992). By painting a picture depicting a path through time in a time chart, tells the viewer in the simplest of terms a story in one simple form, this chart informs the viewer of there historical past and the heritage they have inherited from it “the past no longer exists, it has gone for good. It has left relics and traces – most obviously, the buildings, the cities, the streets which are open to every gaze; less obviously, the billions upon billions of sources of all types which have to be sought out in libraries, and archives and in archaeological digs”. (A.Marwick 1993) form these sources we can interpretate what has happened and draw a picture, but no matter how good a picture is it will always be uncompleted and open to interpretation. This is the form of interpretation Slalks has used to depict their countries past and how it corresponds on a time line with the development of Europe.
Hvornar is a time chart, which was given away with a popular magazine in Denmark in 1972; it is a chart, which is a classical depiction of how the Danes depicted their past. It is designed as a road through time. “This magazine has no close British equivalent” (R.Lamb 20031) and as such a better understanding of Danish history would help the viewer understand more fully what is being depicted. However a Dane would probably instantly recognise the characters and images on the chart as well as have a rudimentary understanding of European history. From what I can read from the picture it is obvious that it is a milestone indicating the chronology of the Danish people. We can see this form the milestones placed on the line to the left of the picture and the dates at different stages through time. On the right side is shown houses, boats etc. from their own area, Denmark. On its left side is shown phenomenon’s abroad, e.g. Rome, pyramids etc. by drawing a line in time from a particular event in Europe, for example the pyramids of Egypt, we can deduce that in Denmark, they were at that time clearing the forests and moving across to primitive agriculture, and that the most significant monuments at that point were primitive stone structures probably in a parallel with Scotland (D.Ross 2002, P.J.Ashmore, 2000, M.Carver, 1999)”. In the highlands we are more like the Danes” (R.Lamb 20032,). As were the Irish from the Celtic figures represented by the spearman with the long shield (T.G.E.Powell, 1994), and the Picts, by the pair of horn blowers and cremations in the Bronze Age in the right column (R.Hingley 1998). By acknowledging this and drawing conclusions from Scotland and Ireland we can then see that Denmark was less advanced at this stage than many parts of Europe and north west Africa.
