I have found all of the topics in class this semester extremely interesting. Archaeology has always been very intriguing for me, and before taking this class I always loved watching documentaries about historic places, learning about past cultures, and even watching an occasional Indiana Jones movie (even though he’s not a true archaeologist). With all of the amazing places we have discussed this semester, one archaeological site has always stuck out in my mind as being the most influential of anything we have talked about. This site was the Pyramids of Giza. The Great Pyramids, as well as the countless other sites and discoveries in Egypt have captivated the world for centuries and I think this is the primary reason that they are so important.

All throughout popular culture the Egyptian Pyramids have an important presence in our human history. You can see it in many things, from movies and tv shows, to mummy and Cleopatra Halloween costumes, to elementary school history classes, and to historic colonization and collection of artifacts. The grandeur and mystery of ancient Egypt is intriguing for all ages, and has been for centuries. Additionally, the myths surrounding the pyramids add to society’s fascination with the ancient sites. The “pyramidiot” ideas from people like John Taylor and Ignatius Donnelly have permeated modern knowledge and perhaps made the actual history of the region even more interesting to the general public, as archaeologists disprove the far-fetched alien and Atlantean conspiracies. The myths surrounding the incredible feats of engineering are very prominent in our modern culture, working their way into Indiana Jones, The Mummy, and even the Transformers movies, showing how the world’s fascination is so willing to accept fanciful ideas because of their mystery and intrigue.

Overall, I believe that the history of the ancient Egyptian sites is the most important archaeological discovery in modern knowledge. Because of the “crazy” ideas about the region and the belief that the people in this ancient time period were not capable of accomplishing such large feats of engineering, it is extremely important to the Egyptian culture that these myths are disproved, and and the real story of this sophisticated society is properly told. The history of the Giza Plateau is very important to the culture of modern Egyptians and also ancient world history in general. It is important for all people to understand how cultures and civilizations developed through history, and how our modern world of language and technology developed from these ancient people.