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 archaeology
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 ...
Archaeologists uncover prehistoric landscape beneath Oxford
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 04, 2009 |
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(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 ...
Pavlopetri -- the world's oldest known submerged town
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 21, 2009 |
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The world's oldest known submerged town has been revealed through the discovery of late Neolithic pottery. The finds were made during an archaeological survey of Pavlopetri, off the southern Laconia coast ...
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 ...
Scandinavians are descended from Stone Age immigrants
Sep 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Today's Scandinavians are not descended from the people who came to Scandinavia at the conclusion of the last ice age but, apparently, from a population that arrived later, concurrently with the introduction ...
MSU Archaeology Team's latest find: 16,000-year-old sand dune
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of MSU researchers and archaeology students has confirmed the existence of an undisturbed, prehistoric sand dune beneath a grove of pine trees between Demonstration Hall and Munn Ice ...
Theory: Stone Age People had Sophisticated Navigation Networks
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new theory based on studies of locations of large landmarks in Britain, such as stone structures, hill forts and earthworks, suggests they were part of a grid used for navigation around ...
Via Tiburtina -- an interdisciplinary journey through Rome's urban landscape
Sep 16, 2009 |
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Via Tiburtina is the name of the ancient road that is still in use, connecting Rome with the town of Tivoli. Architect Hans Bjur, a professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and professor Barbro Santillo ...
Archaeologists discover oldest-known fiber materials used by early humans
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Sep 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of archaeologists and paleobiologists has discovered flax fibers that are more than 34,000 years old, making them the oldest fibers known to have been used by humans. The fibers, discovered ...
Prehistoric tools discovered at Isles of Shoals
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Aug 27, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Summer students in Cornell's new Archaeology Field School at Shoals Marine Laboratory, Cornell's marine field station, have discovered the first prehistoric archaeological site in the Isles ...
Archaeologists find cache of tablets in 2,700-year old Turkish temple
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Aug 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Excavations led by a University of Toronto archaeologist at the site of a recently discovered temple in southeastern Turkey have uncovered a cache of cuneiform tablets dating back to the Iron ...
5 ancient Roman shipwrecks found off Italy coast
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jul 25, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Archaeologists have found five well-preserved Roman shipwrecks deep under the sea off a small Mediterranean island, with their cargo of vases, pots and other objects largely intact, officials said ...
How chemistry can reveal the secrets of ancient worlds
Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry
Jun 30, 2009 |
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The day-to-day lives of prehistoric humans have been revealed following new research developed by chemists at the University of Bristol. The research, which combines archaeology with cutting-edge chemistry ...
Showcasing the secrets of Caistor Roman town
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jun 24, 2009 |
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In December 2007 a team of experts, led by The University of Nottingham, unveiled an extraordinary set of high-resolution images that gave an insight into the plan of the Roman town of Venta Icenorum at Caistor St Edmund ...
Underground cave dating from the year 1 A.D. exposed in Jordan Valley
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jun 22, 2009 |
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An artificial underground cave, the largest in Israel, has been exposed in the Jordan Valley in the course of a survey carried out by the University of Haifa's Department of Archaeology.
