“Archaeology is the search for fact, not truth. If it’s truth you’re interested in, Dr. Tyree’s philosophy class is right down the hall. So forget any ideas you’ve got about lost cities, exotic travel, and digging up the world. We do not follow maps to buried treasure and “X” never, ever, marks the spot!”
Dr. Henry Jones Jnr, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

This is an admirable statement of the aims of archaeological excavation, all the more remarkable because it comes from...