ABSTRACT
Archaeology teaches people to be alert to the world around them, to see the clues of past lives that are now obscure. Think about the streets people walk every day and the traces of history that are present even when overlooked. Wherever one lives they are inhabiting an environment shaped by people who lived long ago who likely never imagined that their world would ever fade from view. In his book World Without Us , Alan Weisman uses a simple thought experiment to challenge people to think about their place in the history of the planet. Weisman asks people to imagine what would happen if humanity suddenly disappeared. He traces how buildings will crumble and great cities will disappear. People have been shaping the ecology of the planet for millions of years. Archaeology allows people to see that any effort to separate nature and culture ignores a reality stretching back.
