In archaeology, narratives and storytelling can, to some extent, expand the limitations of the archaeological record.  Archaeologists often have communicated the past to the public in the form of larger narratives that can be broken down into compelling stories. In places where conflicts are long past, stories provide entertainment and enlightenment but in places where historical conflicts continually reformulate themselves, and current antagonists may have been struggling with each other for hundreds of years, archaeological narratives and stories can provide a context for political violence. This is, in part, due to the narrative process itself which defines a community but also differentiates it from others—sometimes in opposition to others. Thus, delineating cultural heritage through storytelling can affect the present in ways that archaeologists do not intend. In this discussion we will examine how archaeological narratives and stories can become the symbolic scaffolding for building and sustaining conflict and what, if anything, archaeologists can do redress this problem.