ELi5 : Why does it seem a lot of archeology began so recently in the 20th and 19th centuries? Why weren’t we digging up stuff much earlier?

Question

It seems many of the most important archeological findings were in the 20th and 19th century. Why did humans wait so long to start digging stuff up?

In: 961

Answer 1

They have been digging forever but it was called grave robbing before. The difference between the two is meticulously recording what you found and where in relationship to the other items and location. The first method was from greed the second method is archeological curiosity and understanding.