Why is history so hard?

Why haven't olden people (the fucking villagers) been writing stuff down all their lives so we won't have to worry about gaps in history? WTF have the slackers of the last millennium been doing? Didn't they know someone would come around looking for their history? Why does history have to be so bloody difficult? We've known for at least a thousand years that there is some interest in history. The responsible thing to do would be to keep writing stuff down. But no. We have to go hunting for skulls and bones and pots and pans to find out anything half useful about those slackers.