LogFAQs > #952028951

TheNobleWoodApe posted...

I don't think we'll ever understand human history prior to the written word.

The red haired giants with 6 fingers and 2 rows of teeth, the stone walls of New England, the ruins we keep finding in 40-60 meters depth off shore back when that water was tied up in the ice age.

We can dig all we want and pull dna out of random knuckle bones but when all is said and done we'll end up knowing more about the dinosaurs because they fossilized to stone than we'll ever know of our own history as humans.

Well, a huge problem is simply that most documents can't handle the test of time. A lot of times it seems like the winners are the ones who write the history because the winners were the ones who were developed enough TO write in the first place.

But that's why archaeology exists and why modern historians don't accept accounts as being universally true even if there is no counter-document. They try to piece things together from digsites and the like. The Aztec burned a lot of historical records and it's only because one of their emperors thought it was important that we even have any. But it's not like we're totally clueless or the like. We have people dedicated to unearthing history working on it.

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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage