ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates possibilities of using archaeology as a means for understanding the recent past. The paper is divided into two parts. The first considers how archaeology can be used in a variety of situations to increase our knowledge of past events and bring an immediacy to the past, which is at times missing in other forms of historical investigation. The second part of the chapter looks at one example of how archaeology can be used to enhance our understanding of a particular aspect of recent Palestinian history by investigating the remains of the al-Nuweima mosque near Jericho.
