ABSTRACT
In the concluding chapter of his book, Debating the Archaeological Heritage (2000), Robin Skeates notes that there are a number of arguments that can be put forward to justify support and appreciation of archaeology, such as that they:
‘protect and preserve the material remains of the past for the future’, ‘rescue information about the past before it is destroyed’, ‘respond to people’s natural curiosity about past populations and their material remains, providing them with reliable answers about the past at the same time as helping to rid them of misconceptions’, ‘provide interpretations of the origins, diversity and long term-term development of human behaviour in the past throughout the world, which can help us to understand and respect for our own societies in the present and future’, ‘contribute to the development of heritage tourism, and hence to local and national economic growth,…offer educators and their pupils a dynamic resource that helps them to unhook their historical imaginations through an integrated variety of active interdisciplinary, problem-orientated approaches to learning’ (Skeates 2000: 110).
