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British Museum removes ‘Palestine’ from ancient Middle East displays (thelemmy.club)

submitted 2 days ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/archaeology@mander.xyz

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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/14/british-museum-removes-palestine-references-from-ancient-mi/

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[-] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 day ago

Not disputing that, but even in that section of explanatory text it uses 'Levantine peoples'.

[-] napoleonsdumbcousin@feddit.org 4 points 1 day ago

Well Levantine is the broader term, so you need it to define the more specific term Canaanite.

[-] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 day ago

It's a broader term that is no less accurate. But it is also one more removed from political connotations since this is not just about using the term 'Canaanite' as it is also changing it from 'Palestinian.'

Changing 'Palestinian' to 'Canaanite' in 2026 specifically means something more given the Israelite-Canaanite context.

It's either malicious or stupid, and evidence is tending to the former for the group that sought the change and the latter for the museum.

this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026

440 points (98.5% liked)

Archaeology

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Archaeology or archeology[a] is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes.

Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time.

The discipline involves surveying, excavation, and eventually analysis of data collected, to learn more about the past. In broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Read more...

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