Pompeii. Machu Picchu. Stonehenge. Angkor Wat. The Great Pyramid of Giza.
Those of us who grew up in Western cultures tend to think of archaeology as the study of a place — a point on the map where edifices or artifacts tell us something important about past people and cultures.
Archaeologists have tended to think this way, too. A site is identified; excavation ensues. Artifacts are discovered. The artifacts are studied, inventoried and carefully stored so that they will be available to the archaeologists of the future.
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