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

Archeology isn’t completely a new thing. For example, the first people to study ancient Egyptian archeology were slightly less ancient Egyptians: Pharaoh Thutmose IV (ruled in the 14th century BC) led an excavation of the Great Sphinx of Giza (constructed in about the 26th century BC)

But the basic answer is the same reasons why all sciences have exploded in the last few centuries: economics, education, and the various technologies that have unlocked academic pursuits outside of a tiny wealthy elite. Plus increasing ease of long-distance travel: it became much easier to sail or fly to other countries and study/steal their ancient artifacts.