Practice question · Multiple choice
Why does a high rate of repair in an assemblage tell an archaeologist about scarcity?
Hints
- Mending is a decision. What is being compared when someone makes it?
- Think about which is cheap: the thing, or the hour?
Show the answer
C. The object cost more than the labour to fix it
Why
A society that mends values the object above the hour; a society that discards has flipped the ratio. Nobody wrote the ratio down anywhere, and you can read it off a rubbish heap in an afternoon.
Practise Material Culture as a Source
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