Has archaeology actually contributed anything to modern society and culture?

Question

Or are they just glorified grave robbers?

What good does digging up old graves do for the modern culture?

Has archaeology contributed anything useful, something we all use or need in every day life?

How would our societys and ways of life be different if there was no such thing as archaeology?

Answer 1

Sure, if you understand where you came from, you have a better understanding of where we are.

Answer 2

We wouldn't know much about ancient egyptian culture if we did not 'dig it up'. Movies like 'the mummy' and the like would have never been made and therefore the lack of influence of such a movie would have changed society.

Same with all the different ancient societies. Many aspects of own culture(USA at least) are influenced by our desire to understand and glorify our ancient brethren.

Movies have a great impact on society as does knowing that these ancient societies, what they went through and the disasters that destroyed them. Take Pompeii for example. We all know volcanoes are dangerous, but many of us would not take it as seriously if the understanding of this disaster was left to their graves.

Much of our understanding of earth's changes are due to the ancient civilizations and their how they lived in their environment.

We, now, in our modern society have decided to keep records of such events because it is so important to the continuity of our civilization. I know many civilizations kept records, and thankfully so.

Next time you go out just take a hard look around and wonder what life would be like if we knew nothing about our ancient brethren. Take anything that would relate to these ancient cultures and know that it would not be there if such archeology had not taken place. It would be a very different world. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

A good question. I have wondered this myself, about the grave robbers that is. I think maybe the main thing archaeologists have given is more understanding, and of course they have discovered things, like the Rosetta Stone which helped translate a few languages and therefore know more about the world and where we came from. If you believe history is important, then probably archaeology is one tool that can be used to uncover the past.