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.
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News tagged with archaeologists

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Ancient Greek Temple

Houses of the rising sun: Research sheds new light on Ancient Greeks

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 3

New research at the University of Leicester has identified scores of Sicilian temples built to face the rising Sun, shedding light on the practices of the Ancient Greeks.


Atlanta's Fernbank Museum tracks infamous conquistador through southeast

Team tracks infamous conquistador through southeast

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

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 ...


Excavation unravels mysteries of men's gymnasium's demise during 1906 earthquake

Excavation unravels mysteries of men's gymnasium's demise during 1906 earthquake

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

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 ...





Search results for archaeologists


Archaeologists uncover prehistoric landscape beneath Oxford

Archaeologists uncover prehistoric landscape beneath Oxford

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (8) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Archaeologists excavating the former Radcliffe Infirmary site in Oxford have uncovered evidence of a prehistoric monumental landscape stretching across the gravel terrace between the Thames ...


Israel displays coins from ancient Jewish revolt (AP)

Israel displays coins from ancient Jewish revolt

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 11, 2009 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(AP) -- Israel displayed for the first time Wednesday a collection of rare coins charred and burned from the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple nearly 2,000 years ago.


Maya

New insights into the life of the Maya

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (17) | comments 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- Ancient artifacts are almost always concerned with rich and powerful religious and political leaders, but new excavations of an ancient Maya site have unearthed a pyramid decorated with murals ...


Did India invent the nose job?

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Oct 29, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (7) | comments 4

An Indian doctor working in 600 B.C. might have been the world's first plastic surgeon, according to a new exhibition that challenges Western domination of the history of science and technology.


Cosmic 'dig' reveals vestiges of the Milky Way's building blocks

Cosmic 'Dig' Reveals Vestiges of the Milky Way's Building Blocks

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (18) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Peering through the thick dust clouds of our galaxy's "bulge" (the myriads of stars surrounding its center), a team of astronomers has unveiled an unusual mix of stars in the stellar grouping ...


Forest clearances sealed ancient civilisation's downfall

Forest clearances sealed ancient civilisation's downfall

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- An ancient South American civilisation which disappeared around 1,500 years ago helped to cause its own demise by damaging the fragile ecosystem that held it in place, a study has found. ...



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