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Given the depth and breadth of history, how likely is it than all potential finds will be even remotely exhausted? And the deeper history is buried the less lik
by interstice 4y ago
Given the depth and breadth of history, how likely is it than all potential finds will be even remotely exhausted? And the deeper history is buried the less likely it is to ever be found, is there value in that that I’m not seeing?
- hilbert42 4y agoI'm not an archeologist but it seems to me that so much of the past has already been lost that every find can be viewed as potentially useful in reconstructing the past - if not now then later after new tools have been developed.
- AlotOfReading 4y agoThere are definitely periods, sites, and cultures where we believe the majority of finds that would have existed are already lost to us from decay processes (usually modeled exponentially). An example is the category of classic mimbres black on white pottery depicting animals. This is a type of artifact that certain archaeologists would like to study and also has a high black market value. The scarcity of examples with secure provenance indicates that few remain to be found as a result of looting and relevant experts don't expect to find many more.