Cultural artifacts are tangible representations of the culture. When an artifact is conserved to retain its current condition, it preserves the truth of the historical story for generations to come. 

Artifacts are immensely useful to scholars who want to learn about a culture. Archaeologists excavate areas in which ancient cultures lived and use the artifacts found there to learn about the past. Many ancient cultures did not have a written language or did not actively record their history, so artifacts sometimes provide the only clues about how the people lived.