There is something magical about the survival of 
human-made objects from the past. A piece of jewelry, a 
cup, a sword, or a sandal that has, often arbitrarily, survived 
the general tide of oblivion seems in some degree to bridge 
the gulf of years that separates us from the world of our 
ancestors—whether inhabitants of ancient Egypt or the 
Roman Empire, the Aztecs of Mexico or Japanese samurai. 
A collection of such artifacts can vividly represent a longlost civilization, its daily life, its art and culture, its ways of 
making war and conducting trade, its rituals and its beliefs.