How has technological limitations of previous excavations hurt our archaeological knowledge, and in what ways do current standards of excavation attempt to minimize harm with the expectation of future technological breakthroughs?

by Goat_im_Himmel

I'm principally interested in the field of Egyptology, as this question struck me while reading about recent claims regarding a hidden tomb within King Tut's tomb, but I figure that this is more a general question about conduct and methodology of archaeology as an overarching discipline.

Anyways, especially with Egyptology, it seems that the "hey-day" was ~100 years ago or so, and most of the great finds date to that period. Certainly the beginnings of 'scientific excavation' had made their way into the field by that point, but I can only imagine that, compared to what we are capable of now, there must be untold loss of knowledge from the shortcomings of even the best-intentioned excavators in that period. Am I correct in that assumption? In what ways was it applicable?

More importantly, are we at all able to estimate what has been lost in that way, or even reconstruct it?

Lastly, were archaeologists from the period aware that they might be ruining things for improved abilities of those in the future, and did they implement any attempts at safeguarding things with that potential in mind? Likewise, mindful are current standards of that potential, and in what ways to modern digs try to cater to the potential of the future?

Nebkheperure

This may not answer your question completely, and I welcome the input of my esteemed colleagues here on /r/AskHistorians, but you're right when you say that previous archaeological exploration has left us with a paucity of the evidence we might have discovered if progress had been slowed.

Egyptology particularly suffered in the Victorian era, with fad-crazed colonial Brits clamouring for the exportation of mummies and other artefacts to England. The mummies were opened in large operating theatres to provide entertainment to the crowds, and the evidence of positions of amulets and their particular archaeological context destroyed forever. Many mummies were turned into paint or panaceas as the market was saturated.

In some places, like Pompeii, the excavations have all but stopped as archaeologists try to preserve future sites for more advanced technologies yet to be invented.