Bruce Mau says.......

"Remember.
Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself".

even the memory stick is not perfect but asherd of pot from archaeological context never changes in essence -it will degrade and become physically debrided but its history remains intact. It is testament to all that has gone before. It contains memory or history.