11th May 2007, 01:43 PM
Historians as handmaidens of archaeology or vice versa - they perform somewhat different roles with an end result which is similar - to explain and understand the past. I believe a lot of historians don't understand archaeology and vice versa. Both have limitations (history particularly for prehistorians) but a combination of proper archaeological interpretation and proper historical reseanch combined an give a result which is greater than the sum of the parts for some sites.