Have you ever seen an archaeologist uncovering an artifact or a set of bones? It’s a painstaking business. They can’t just dig right in or they could risk harming the remains in the process. Instead, the archaeologist uses light, gentle brushes, blowing off the excess dust, sweeping away debris, until the artifact reveals itself. Then they celebrate the find!

Although classified in universities as a science, archaeology, like most restorative processes, many would say, is also an art. Likewise, the study of the history of art is considered by most a kind of archaeology. While archaeology delves into the human past seeking to understand behavior, history, culture, and social structures, art seeks to reveal the style, form, image, meaning, and beauty revealed in human expression of the innerm…