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

In addition to some of the helpful comments written here, I’d urge you to consider how different cultures view and value the past. Victor Hugo wrote *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* partially to argue that people should stop tearing down historic landmarks. Before the book’s publishing, most French saw nothing wrong with tearing down centuries-old buildings to build more useful stuff. The first historic preservation laws in Europe were only enacted after Hugo’s message gained traction.

There were periods were Italians broke down the Colosseum for construction fill. There were also periods when they absolutely were digging up old Roman artifacts and gushing over them. But my point is that one of the things that changed (though it did happen in the past) was a shift in perspective. Mainstream society began to value ancient history and archeology again.