Obviously, I have a great respect for history when one considers it is historical records that helped free me from a harmful cult, and I am sure the same can be said for many others on these boards. I would still be interested in hearing opinions regarding the importantance of history, especially with regards to a project I am hoping to be involved in next year.

I was born and raised in South Africa; a country with a decidedly unsavory recent history. Despite the historical cloud that shadows South Africa and my Caucasian, Afrikaans ancestors, I am totally in love with my country. That is why I was very excited when I was offered a position at the local university and a university in South Africa taking part in an archeological dig outside Johannesberg. A mass grave at a large gold mine has been discovered. It is thought the people were murdered and buried during the apartheid regime. I would be involved in unearthing skeletal remains and determining COD, age and gender so that the grave can be classified (genocide grave or war site) and an accurate demographic record of the dead be made, thus assisting in piecing together events that occured during that awful time. I was asked why anybody would invest money and time digging up the past? After all, it is the past and the country is trying to move past the atrocities committed so long ago. Why is it important to know when and how these people died? It is unlikely that anybody can or will be held accountable. So, apart from the experience and knowledge the individuals involved will gain from this project, what importance is it to the world? A very good question to which I have my own answer to, but I'd like to hear opinions from impartial people.

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"Doubt, indulged and cherished, is in danger of becoming denial; but if honest, and bent on thorough investigation it may soon lead to full establishment of truth."
Ambrose Bierce

If one choses not to understand history, we often repeat it, mistakes and all.

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"When authority masquerades as a power, a simple question will unmask it."

"Just because you think, feel, or believe something is true, doesn't make it true!"

"The doubt of your faith, is not God testing you, but truth trying to emerge and free you."

The past history is often blurry and "written by winners", according to Napolean if I can recall.
To me, it is important to double check and have multiple sources that are willing to verify the authenticity of any event, whenever possible. We never know, we may learn something new or get a different perspective from a past event.

My great uncle went to the gold fields of Alaska, and was never heard from afterwards.
He had no children. But even without direct descendants, his relatives are interested in what happened to him. So I suppose there will be collaterals - cousins, etc., who would be interested in the lives and passing of some of the people whose remains are in that site, MandyH. Also, from a purely historical/historiographical perspective, it would be (imo) important to know the parties involved - government officials? Union leaders? Opposing set of workers? Corporate executives? Security guards that lost their self-control? Plague? Mass suicide? For reasons of national history, economic history, national health, suicide prevention, labor relations (unions vs workers vs employers vs unions) or whatever relates to it.

I think that learning about human history teaches you more about yourself as a human.