The Importance Of Archaeology In History

Introduction:

This paper will be discussing, defining and analyzing how the social, political and economic environments can influence the way archaeologists interpret the past through the perspective of the present.

Archaeology can be described as “Pleasant fairy tales of old grandmothers” (Plato), however, it serves an important role in understanding our past through the study of human history and prehistory by conducting the excavation of sites and the analysis of artefacts and other physical remains. Throughout history there have been many cases of how archaeology was not used purely for understanding our past, but instead used for ulterior motives.

Social:

Contemporary relevance of archaeology means understanding the roles that archaeology has in the present day and a sense of the contributions that it can make through those roles both now and in the future.

“If you want to feed starving children in Bangladesh, you should go do that.” (Dave Conlin) This captures the social milieu in which modern archaeology operates. For all its capabilities to inspire, enable, teach, inform, enlighten, and entertain, in the immediate hand-to-mouth and bottom line in which so many present decisions are made, archaeology and its methods and findings often seem unfortunately inaccessible(Rockman, Hatman, 2012). Irrespective of the many other fields that also cannot contribute directly when bad things happen, in the face of immediate need and urgent disaster, the costs and requirements of