How Archaeology Has Changed over Time

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In this report, I shall be explaining how archaeology has changed through-out time. Stemming back from before the common era, archaeology has been part of human culture, either for knowledge or personal gain. Our modern view towards archaeology has been shaped by ancient ideas, collectors and scholars. Also, with the arrival of new technology, we have been able to have clearer understanding of finds. Ancient Collectors The earliest form of archaeology that we know of originates from the thirteenth century before the common era. In the ancient city of Thebes, a collection of Mesopotamian cylinder seals had been collected. How or why these seals had ended up in Thebes is unknown, but at the time of collection, they were approximately six hundred years old. Later on, Cimon comes across the bones of Theseus on Skyros. The bones were then taken the Athens and placed in a new tomb. The reasons behind the collecting of old items doesn't have a definite answer, however, many ancient civilisations held reverence for their ancestors. Perhaps collecting items such as these showed admiration for the dead. Romans As the Roman's grew as a civilisation, they wanted to be rich with culture, just like the Greeks. The Greeks had a rich history and culture which was idolised by the Romans. Roman aristocrats begin to take masses of Greek statues back to Rome as a symbol of sophistication. Greek statues were mainly made from bronze, which was expensive, so having bronze statues also displayed wealth. In 133BCE, Memmius takes hundreds of statue form Corinth. Roman art was now being created in the Greek style and the Romans were now started to adopt Greek mythology. They wanted a heroic past that linked with the heroic Greek past. An example of this is the 'Foundation of Rome' myth, having Romulus and Remus be the descendants of Aeneas, who was a survivor from Troy. Roman colonies

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