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

Cleopatra had *ancient Egyptian archeologists* trying to uncover the mysteries of the Great Pyramids because they were as much a mystery to her as they are us. In fact, we’re closer in time to Cleopatra than Cleopatra was in time to the construction of those pyramids.