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Archaeology

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Archaeology, 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.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with archaeologists

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'Blue Stonehenge' discovered

'Blue Stonehenge' discovered

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Oct 06, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (19) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Archaeologists have released an artist’s impression of what a second stone circle found a mile from Stonehenge might have looked like.


New clues in Easter Island hat mystery

New clues in Easter Island hat mystery

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Sep 07, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (14) | comments 5

(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.


Ivory sculpture in Germany could be world's oldest

Ivory sculpture in Germany could be world's oldest

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 13, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (12) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- The 2008 excavations at Hohle Fels Cave in the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany recovered a female figurine carved from mammoth ivory from the basal Aurignacian deposit. This figurine, ...


A 200,000-year-old cut of meat

A 200,000-year-old cut of meat

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Oct 14, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (13) | comments 1

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 ...


Prehistoric site found near UK's Stonehenge

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Oct 03, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (13) | comments 3

(AP) -- Archaeologists have discovered a smaller prehistoric site near Britain's famous circle of standing stones at Stonehenge.


Evidence unearthed of possible mass cannibalism in Neolithic Europe

Evidence unearthed of possible mass cannibalism in Neolithic Europe

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Dec 07, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (12) | comments 8 weblog

(PhysOrg.com) -- Archaeologists studying a 7,000-year-old site in what is now south-west Germany have found evidence suggesting that more than 500 people may have been the victims of cannibalism.


IU discovers stone tools, rare animal bones -- clues to Caribbean's earliest inhabitants

Stone tools, rare animal bones discovered -- clues to Caribbean's earliest inhabitants

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Aug 18, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (11) | comments 0

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 ...


'The world's oldest manufactured beads' are older than previously thought

'The world's oldest manufactured beads' are older than previously thought

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 05, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (11) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of archaeologists has uncovered some of the world’s earliest shell ornaments in a limestone cave in Eastern Morocco. The researchers have found 47 examples of Nassarius marine shells, ...


Archaeologists find earliest known domestic horses

Archaeologists find earliest known domestic horses

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Mar 05, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of archaeologists has uncovered the earliest known evidence of horses being domesticated by humans. The discovery suggests that horses were both ridden and milked. The ...


Caistor skeleton mystifies archaeologists

Caistor skeleton mystifies archaeologists

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Sep 15, 2009 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (14) | comments 1

A skeleton, found at one of the most important, but least understood, Roman sites in Britain is puzzling experts from The University of Nottingham.


Was a 'mistress of the lionesses' a king in ancient Canaan?

Was a 'mistress of the lionesses' a king in ancient Canaan?

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Apr 06, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 0

The legend is that the great rulers of Canaan, the ancient land of Israel, were all men. But a recent dig by Tel Aviv University archaeologists at Tel Beth-Shemesh uncovered possible evidence of a mysterious ...


New ancient Egypt temples discovered in Sinai (AP)

New ancient Egypt temples discovered in Sinai

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Apr 21, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (10) | comments 0

(AP) -- Archaeologists exploring an old military road in the Sinai have unearthed four new temples amidst the 3,000-year-old remains of an ancient fortified city that could have been used to impress foreign ...


Prehistoric flute in Germany is oldest known

Prehistoric flute in Germany is oldest known

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Jun 24, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (9) | comments 5

Excavations in the summer of 2008 at the sites of Hohle Fels and Vogelherd produced new evidence for Paleolithic music in the form of the remains of one nearly complete bone flute and isolated small fragments ...


Monument lifted from Cleopatra's underwater city (AP)

Monument lifted from Cleopatra's underwater city

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 0

(AP) -- Archaeologists on Thursday hoisted a 9-ton temple pylon from the waters of the Mediterranean that was part of the palace complex of the fabled Cleopatra before it became submerged for centuries in ...


Israeli archaeologists find ancient fortification (AP)

Israeli archaeologists find ancient fortification

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Sep 02, 2009 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (10) | comments 10

(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.