What Will Archaeologists Think of Us? Or Do Post-Moderns Dream of Electric Sheep?

Being that I’m of the historical mindset, it’s something I ponder often… what will our archaeological legacy be if the bits that we are creating even survive the coming millennia?

I’m not alone:

I sometimes wonder what future archaeologists and historians will understand about our society. It may seem unthinkable that future scholars would have as much disagreement about basic things as we do about the ancients, but I’m sure it seemed just as unlikely to those great old civilizations. Will historians understand our religious practices? Cultural and political systems? How much of our language will be opaque idiom? Let’s face it, bits and bytes are much less durable than papyrus, clay, and stone.

Fun stuff to ponder since we aren’t recording our decalogues on stones and stele anymore (somewhat unfortunately).

Are we the Myceneans 2.0?

12 Replies to “What Will Archaeologists Think of Us? Or Do Post-Moderns Dream of Electric Sheep?”

  1. Sam,
    The link above is broken… I landed on a “not found” page.

    Reply

    1. Funny… gotta love mainstream media’s use of links 🙂

      I guess they only last a year or so.

      Reply

      1. No kidding!!! Try to use them as a reference.

        Reply

  2. Sam,
    The link above is broken… I landed on a “not found” page.

    Reply

    1. Funny… gotta love mainstream media’s use of links 🙂

      I guess they only last a year or so.

      Reply

      1. No kidding!!! Try to use them as a reference.

        Reply

  3. Sam,
    The link above is broken… I landed on a “not found” page.

    Reply

    1. Sam Harrelson March 31, 2008 at 15:15

      Funny… gotta love mainstream media’s use of links 🙂

      I guess they only last a year or so.

      Reply

      1. No kidding!!! Try to use them as a reference.

        Reply

  4. Sam,
    The link above is broken… I landed on a “not found” page.

    Reply

    1. Funny… gotta love mainstream media’s use of links 🙂

      I guess they only last a year or so.

      Reply

      1. No kidding!!! Try to use them as a reference.

        Reply

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