Myth, Memento, and Memory: Avebury (Wiltshire, England)

Monuments, like Leonard Shelby’s tattoos in Memento, serve as mementos that require interpretation by future generations, often losing their original meaning over time. Wheatley argues that just as Shelby’s amnesia forces him to reconstruct his past through physical traces, human communities encounter prehistoric sites without the cultural memory of their creators' intentions. These monuments, inscribed on the landscape, become distorted or misinterpreted, much like Shelby’s notes and photos, leading to unintended actions. The study contrasts this model with traditional biographical narratives, suggesting that mementos—whether tattoos or earthworks—better represent how past traces shape future behavior while being subject to interpretation and cultural drift.

Wheatley, D. (2015). Myth, Memento, and Memory: Avebury (Wiltshire, England). The Lives of Prehistoric Monuments in Iron Age, Roman, and Medieval Europe. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198724605.003.0013