” It’s unfortunate that the temptation to retrofit modern notions of diversity was too great for the author to resist, as it debases all that was written.”
Well stated.
“There were obviously diverse cultures present though, despite the freighted meaning.”
But now you are doing it!
What does diverse cultures even mean? Modern jargon is all it is.
If they mean tools that differed were found in different geographic areas, then they should say that.
Yes, that phrasing would not have been political. But, every science it seems has come to be politicized to the point that I just refer to this sort of thing as political science.