M K Dhavalikar Says Archeology is Supreme. Is it? Mary Beard Has An Answer

 I never liked the late M K Dhavalikar's assertion captured in the enclosed para from his Marathi book 'Maharashtrachi Kulkatha', 2011.

As I understand it, if something that happened in last two thousand years is not proven by archeology, it probably did not happen. He also concludes, it probably did not happen because of frequent droughts in India.

I wonder how much we have excavated to claim that a lot of our history is based on falsehood.

Mary Bard says in TLS in October 2024:

'Archaeology has had its fair share of hype over the decades. Occasionally that has been entirely justified (it is hard to imagine not hyping the tomb of Tutankhamun, for example). But the pressure from headline writers, from university PR departments and (I suspect) from underfunded excavators looking for sponsorship is to turn any discovery, however interesting but ordinary it might be, into “the first”, “the best”, “the most valuable”, or whatever superlative you choose.'