Archaeology
hideArchaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek ἀρχαιολογία, archaiologia – ἀρχαῖος, archaīos, "primal, ancient, old"; and -λογία, -logia) is the science that studies human cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, features, biofacts, and landscapes. Because archaeology's aim is to understand humankind, it is a humanistic endeavor. Due to its analysis of human cultures, it is a subset of anthropology, which contains: physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, archaeology, and linguistic anthropology. There is debate as to what archaeology's goals are. Some goals include the documentation and explanation of the origins and development of human cultures, understanding culture history, chronicling cultural evolution, and studying human behavior and ecology, for both prehistoric and historic societies[citation needed].
Archaeologists are also concerned with the study of methods used in the discipline, and the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings underlying the questions archaeologists ask of the past. The tasks of surveying areas in order to find new sites, excavating sites in order to recover cultural remains, classification, analysis, and preservation are all important phases of the archaeological process. Given the broad scope of the discipline, there is cross-disciplinary research in archaeology. It draws upon anthropology, history, art history, classics, ethnology, geography, geology, linguistics, physics, information sciences, chemistry, statistics, paleoecology, paleontology, paleozoology, paleoethnobotany, and paleobotany.
For more information about Archaeology, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with archaeologists
Excavation unravels mysteries of men's gymnasium's demise during 1906 earthquake
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 10, 2009 |
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More than a year into an excavation project of the men's gymnasium that was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake, Stanford university archaeologist Laura Jones' team has unearthed evidence suggesting why the newly ...
Team tracks infamous conquistador through southeast
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 05, 2009 |
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Archaeologists at Atlanta's Fernbank Museum of Natural History have discovered unprecedented evidence that helps map Hernando de Soto's journey through the Southeast in 1540. No evidence of De Soto's path ...
World's oldest submerged town dates back 5,000 years (w/ Video)
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 16, 2009 |
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Archaeologists surveying the world's oldest submerged town have found ceramics dating back to the Final Neolithic. Their discovery suggests that Pavlopetri, off the southern Laconia coast of Greece, was occupied some 5,000 ...
A 200,000-year-old cut of meat
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 14, 2009 |
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Contestants on TV shows like Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen know that their meat-cutting skills will be scrutinized by a panel of unforgiving judges. Now, new archaeological evidence is getting the same scrutiny ...
Archaeologists unearth Nero's revolving banquet hall
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 07, 2009 |
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Archaeologists have unveiled the remains of a revolving banquet room built by the Roman emperor Nero, who ruled between 54 and 68 BC and was famed for his depraved and extravagant lifestyle, a statement said ...
'Blue Stonehenge' discovered
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Archaeologists have released an artist’s impression of what a second stone circle found a mile from Stonehenge might have looked like.
Prehistoric site found near UK's Stonehenge
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 03, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Archaeologists have discovered a smaller prehistoric site near Britain's famous circle of standing stones at Stonehenge.
Ruins of ancient arena discovered outside Rome
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 02, 2009 |
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British archaeologists have discovered the ruins of an arena built early in the third century BC outside Ostia, the ancient imperial port 25 kilometres (16 miles) from Rome, the team leader said Friday.
Rediscovering the dragon's paradise lost
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 30, 2009 |
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The world's largest living lizard species, the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), is vulnerable to extinction and yet little is known about its natural history. New research by a team of palaeontologists and ar ...
Nero's rotating banquet hall unveiled in Rome
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 29, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled what they think are the remains of Roman emperor Nero's extravagant banquet hall, a circular space that rotated day and night to imitate the Earth's movement and ...
Caistor skeleton mystifies archaeologists
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 15, 2009 |
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A skeleton, found at one of the most important, but least understood, Roman sites in Britain is puzzling experts from The University of Nottingham.
Archaeologists find early depiction of a menorah
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 11, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Israeli archaeologists have uncovered one of the earliest depictions of a menorah, the seven-branched candelabra that has come to symbolize Judaism, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Friday. The ...
New clues in Easter Island hat mystery
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of archaeologists has come one step closer to unravelling the mystery of how the famous statues dotting the landscape of a tiny Pacific island acquired their distinctive red hats.
Israeli archaeologists find ancient fortification
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 02, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Archaeologists digging in Jerusalem have uncovered a 3,700-year-old wall that is the oldest example of massive fortifications ever found in the city, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Wednesday.
Stone tools, rare animal bones discovered -- clues to Caribbean's earliest inhabitants
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Aug 18, 2009 |
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A prehistoric water-filled cave in the Dominican Republic has become a "treasure trove" with the announcement by Indiana University archaeologists of the discovery of stone tools, a small primate skull in ...
