Homes include museums, academic departments of art, history. In N. American, the archaeology of capitalism. In New World, persisted until rather recently . Arch record begins 2.0-2.5 Myr. All these took place in prehistory.
History consists of the few things that have happened since.
Some practitioners stop there. Archaeologists as historians or prehistorians seek to describe these several independent events. As anthropologists, they seek to identify and explain similarities and differences. Cf how it's different from anthropology - synchronic vs diachronic perspectives. Archaeology's advantages, disadvantages.