Archaeology
Origins and definition
Prehistoric cave paintings.
Altamira,
Spain Archaeology is the study of human culture using artifacts -material remains from humans in the past. In the
Old World, archaeology has tended to focus on the study of physical remains, the methods used in recovering them and the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings in achieving the subject's goals. The discipline's roots in
antiquarianism and the study of
Latin and
Ancient Greek provided it with a natural affinity with the field of
history. In the
the United States and, increasingly, in other parts of the world, archaeology is more commonly devoted to the study of human
societies and is treated as one of the four subfields of
Anthropology. The other subfields of
anthropology supplement the findings of archaeology in a holistic manner. These subfields are
cultural anthropology, which studies behavioural, symbolic, and material dimensions of culture;
linguistics, which studies language, including the origins of language and language groups; and
physical anthropology, which includes the study of human evolution and physical and
genetic characteristics. Other disciplines also supplement archaeology, such as
paleontology,
paleozoology,
paleoethnobotany,
paleobotany,
geography,
geology,
art history, and
classics.
Archaeology has been described as a
craft that enlists the
sciences to illuminate the
humanities. The American archaeologist
Walter Taylor asserted in his major work "A Study of Archeology" (1948,
American Anthropological Association) that "Archaeology is neither history nor anthropology. As an autonomous discipline, it consists of a method and a set of specialised techniques for the gathering, or 'production' of cultural information".
Archaeology is an approach to understanding human culture through its material remains regardless of chronology. In
England, archaeologists have uncovered the long-lost layouts of medieval villages abandoned after the crises of the 14th century and the equally lost layouts of 17th century parterre gardens swept away by a change in fashion. In downtown
New York City archaeologists have exhumed the 18th century remains of the Black burial ground. Traditional Archaeology is viewed as the study of pre-historical human cultures; that is cultures that existed before the development of
writing for that culture.
Historical archaeology is the study of cultures with some form of
writing.
In the study of relatively recent cultures, which have been observed and studied by Western scholars, archaeology is closely allied with
ethnography. This is the case in large parts of
North America,
Oceania,
Siberia, and other places where the study of archaeology mingles with the living traditions of the cultures being studied.
Kennewick Man is an example of archaeology interacting with modern culture. In the study of cultures that were literate or had literate neighbours,
history and archaeology supplement one another for broader understanding of the complete cultural context, as at
Hadrian's Wall.
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Importance and applicability
Stonehenge,
United Kingdom Often archaeology provides the only means to learn of the existence and behaviors of people in the past. Many thousands of cultures and societies and millions of people have come and gone across the millennia of which there simply is little or no written record - no history - or for which written records may be misrepresentative or incomplete.
Writing as it is known and understood today did not exist anywhere in the world until about 5000 years ago, and only spread among a relatively small number of technologically advanced
civilisations. In contrast
Homo sapiens have existed for at least 200,000 years, an
