New historical understandings.

G

geordief

Valued Senior Member
Have we a historian in t'house?

I want to know from someone with a good overview of the subject how our picture of the past has changed over the past 50 years as a result of new technology , new techniques after old fashioned application.

I realize this is far too wide a question and so would be happy with a general answer along with a few specific examples.
 
One specific: In 1968, US opinion was strongly divided about the Vietnam war. Today most people believe it was a major mistake.
 
geordief said:
I really meant historical analysis based on archaeological surveys.

Sorry for not being clearer.
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I got what you meant: how has technology advanced our knowledge of history.

Well, they just radar scanned the pyramids and determined finally that there are no more hidden chambers.
 
DaveC426913 said:
I got what you meant: how has technology advanced our knowledge of history.

Well, they just radar scanned the pyramids and determined finally that there are no more hidden chambers.
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I should really do more of my own research.
I found the whole satellite imagery in Egypt over the past 5 years or so exciting.

This woman seems to be largely responsible for it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Parcak

Also the recent discoveries in Orkney seem to change our appreciation of earlier cultures.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Brodgar
 
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Our understanding of the past changes all the time.
Forensic science advances tell us more about ancient human remains - how old the bones are, how long people lived, what they ate, what ailed them, what kinds of work they did, what killed them . Comprehensive, non-invasive mapping of archeological sites means we have a clear idea of their size, fortifications and layout. Better techniques preserve artefacts for scrutiny. Etc.
But we still can't tell what they were thinking or why they made idiotic decisions, except from diaries and letters - just like two centuries ago.
There is still no substitute for painstaking research and empathetic imagination.
 
I do not think there have been any significant changes in our view of the past in the last 50 years.
 
NCDane said:
I do not think there have been any significant changes in our view of the past in the last 50 years.
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Well, there's been a lot of progress in our understanding of dinosaurs with advances in DNA and imaging techniques.

Same with modern early man, with the discovery of Otzi the Iceman.
 
And they've located very early victims of bubonic plague in Russia, ~3500 BC, IIRC.

We find new information all the time.
 
Minoans , could have travelled the world .

Even to North America .

From evidence of corn represented in India sculptures .
 
generally, archaeology picks up where history leaves off----------though often it has changed our views of what was once considered myth, and turned it into history.

gobekli tepe is a rare find in that it turned the v gordon childe postulations about the birth of complex societies on it's head.

recently satellite archaeology has found many abandoned villages throughout europe ---I suspect that more will be found on other continents as well.
 
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