Archaeology

Archaeology is the study of the ancient and recent human past through material remains. Archaeology offers a unique perspective on human history and culture that has contributed greatly to our understanding of both the ancient and the recent past. Archaeologists study past cultures by examining artifacts, objects made, used, or changed by humans.  It is considered as an Independent discipline in Europe and many other countries across the globe including India. However in USA, it is studied a subfield of anthropology, the study of all human culture. Archaeology analyzes the physical remains of the past in pursuit of a broad and comprehensive understanding of human culture. Archaeology is the only field of study that covers all times periods and all geographic regions inhabited by humans.  Archaeology helps us understand not only where and when people lived on the earth, but also why and how they have lived, examining the changes and causes of changes that have occurred in human cultures over time.  . Unlike history, which relies primarily upon written records and documents to interpret great lives and events, archaeology allows us to delve far back into the time before written languages existed and to glimpse the lives of everyday people through analysis of things they made and left behind. Archaeologists study the archaeological record through field surveys and excavations and through the laboratory study of collected materials. They refer to the vast store of information about the human past as the archaeological record. The archeological record encompasses every area of the world that has ever been occupied by humans, as well as all of the material remains contained in those areas.

Origin/history

Archaeology or archeology is derived from the Greek word ‘archaiologia’ . Archaeology is the combination of two words 'archaios' and 'logos'. The former means ancient things and later means theory of science. In general it means the study of human activity in the past. Archaeology originated in 15th and 16th century Europe with the popularity of collecting and Humanism, a type of rational philosophy that held art in high esteem. . Flavio Biondo, an Italian Renaissance humanist historian, has been called an early founder of Archaeology. Flavio Biondo created a systematic and documented guide to the ruins and topography of ancient Rome in the early 15th century. The inquisitive elite of the Renaissance collected antiquities from ancient Greece and Rome, considering them pieces of art more than historical artifacts. The desire for antiquities and an interest in the ancients soon led to sponsored excavations and the development of Classical archaeology.

Definitions

Archaeology has been defined by many people in many different ways in the 150 years of the study. Of course, some of the differences reflect the history of archaeology and how it has changed over time, becoming more of a science, and becoming more involved with human behaviors. But mostly the definitions reflect how people look at and feel about archaeology. Archaeologists speak from their varied experiences in the field and in the lab. Non-archaeologists speak from their vision of the archaeology, as filtered by what archaeologists say, and by what the popular media presents the study as. In my opinion, all of these definitions are valid expressions of what archaeology is.

      "Archaeology is the discipline with the theory and practice for the recovery of unobservable hominid behavior patterns from indirect traces in bad samples." David Clarke.

      "Archaeology is the scientific study of peoples of the past... their culture and their relationship with their environment. The purpose of archaeology is to understand how humans in the past interacted with their environment, and to preserve this history for present and future learning." Larry J. Zimmerman

       "Archaeology is our way of reading that message and understanding how these peoples lived. Archaeologists take the clues left behind by the people of the past, and, like detectives, work to reconstruct how long ago they lived, what they ate, what their tools and homes were like, and what became of them." State Historical Society of South Dakota

      "Archaeology is the scientific study of past cultures and the way people lived based on the things they left behind." Alabama Archaeology

      "Archaeology is not a science because it does not apply any recognized model has no validity: each science studies a different subject and therefore uses, or could use a different model." Merilee Salmon, as quoted by Andrea Vianello

      "Archaeology is not simply the finite body of arte-factual evidence uncovered in excavations. Rather, archaeology is what archaeologists say about that evidence. It is the ongoing process of discussing the past which is, in itself, an ongoing process. Only recently have we begun to realize the complexity of that discourse. ... [T]he discipline of archaeology is a site of disputation--a dynamic, fluid, multidimensional engagement of voices bearing upon both past and present." John C. McEnroe

As an Academic discipline

The history of Archaeology as an academic discipline is not very old. It was established as a formal discipline in the 19th and early 20th centuries. During that time, Europe was a hug for most archaeological work and it spreader over to the civilization in southwestern Asia, and to a few areas of the Americas. As a discipline Archaeology covers the entire time span of human civilization and therefore it is extremely long. Archaeology includes great variety of subjects. The earliest subjects of archaeological study date from the origins of humanity. The earliest archaeological sites include those at Hadar, Ethiopia; Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli, Tanzania; East Turkana, Kenya; and elsewhere in East Africa. These sites contain evidence of the first appearance of bipedal , apelike early humans. Archaeological research spans the entire development of phenomena that are unique to humans. For example, Archaeology describes with evidence about when people learned to bury their dead and developed beliefs in an afterlife. Archaeologist found nearly 40,000 years old sites in Europe and Southwest Asia containing signs of the first simple but purposeful burials of the dead. It is understood with the help of this archaeological discovery that people understood the importance of burials and funeral ceremonies and elaborate rituals before 40,000 years. Being able to trace the development of such rituals over thousands of years has added to our understanding of the development of human intellect and spirit. Today, archaeologists study the great cultural diversity of humanity in every corner of the world and importance of the subject has been recognized and felt by globally.

Sub disciplines of Archeology

• Pre-Historical Archeology

 Prehistoric archaeologists deal with the study of early cultures that did not practice or preserve the details of their civilization through writing. In the southwest portion of Asia writing was first introduced over five thousand years ago therefore researchers delve deep into the past with the help of material remains of these cultures. However, there are some cultures in central Africa and portions of North and South America which did not develop written records until the latter part of the 19th century; their studies may deal with the recent past as well.

• Historical Archaeology

 As defined by Society for Historical Archaeology Historical archaeology is the study of the material remains of past societies that also left behind some other form of historical evidence. In simple words Historical archaeology is the study of cultures with some form of writing. This field of research embraces the interests of a diverse group of scholars representing the disciplines of anthropology, history, geography, and folklore. In the New World, historical archaeologists work on a broad range of sites preserved on land and underwater.

• Ethnoarchaeology

Ethnoarchaeology is the study of the social organization and other ethnological features of present-day societies on the basis of their material culture, in order to draw conclusions about past societies from their material remains. It is the archaeological study of living people. Ethnoarchaeology studies the ways in which people live today and the material traces that their activities leave behind. In short, ethno archaeology is the application of ethnography to archaeology.

•  Experimental archaeology

 Archaeologists try to experimentally recreate the patterns they find in their research—a technique known as experimental archaeology. Experimental archaeology represents the application of the experimental method to develop more highly controlled observations of processes that create and impact the archaeological record. Successful recreations can become plausible explanations for how the archaeological record was formed. Experimental techniques remain a crucial component to improving the inferential frameworks for interpreting the archaeological record.

•  Archaeometry  

 Archaeometry in its broadest sense represents interface between archaeology and the natural and physical sciences. This interdisciplinary field requires close collaboration between archaeologists, art historians, museum curators, and scientists who apply modern instrumental techniques to extract structural and compositional information from ancient materials. It is            the application of scientific methods from the physical sciences and engineering to archaeology problems.

Methods of Archaeology

There are several phases involve in an archaeological investigation. These methods are broadly classified into the following categories.

      Field Survey: Learning the environmental and historical variables must take place before stepping into the field. Archaeological field survey is the methodological process by which archaeologists collect information about the location, distribution and organization of past human cultures across a large area. In simple words, Archeological field survey means the process of locating the archaeological resources in a given area of land.

      Excavation: Excavation is the best-known and most commonly used technique within the science of archaeology. It is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation concerns itself with a specific archaeological site or connected series of sites, and may be carried on over a number of years, since the work tends to be seasonal. Archaeological excavation existed even when the field was still the domain of amateurs, and it remains the source of the majority of data recovered in most field projects.

      Post-Excavation Analysis: After Excavation, archaeologists have to analyze all their Finds, as well as the Paper Record. This process of analysis is commonly referred to as Post-Excavation Analysis. The outcome of this analysis process is usually made available in a report. It is not uncommon for the final excavation reports on major sites to take years to be published.

      Virtual Archaeology:  Virtual archaeology is a new field that combines archaeology and computer art to produce reconstructions of archaeological sites. Virtual archaeology reconstruction of cultural and natural heritage. It is the process of researching a building or other artifact and modeling it as accurately as possible in a 3D graphics program. It is the process of learning about buildings, architecture and artifacts in the context of different civilizations. In more general terms, computers can be used to recreate the environment and conditions of the past, such as objects, buildings, landscapes and even ancient battles.

Career in Archaeology

Prominent British Egyptologist and anthropologist told that the trend of all knowledge at the present is to specialize, but archaeology has in it all the qualities that call for the wide view of the human race, of its growth from the savage to the civilized, which is seen in all stages of social and religious development.  Archaeology is a multidisciplinary activity. It archaeology greatly draws upon a vast array of subjects such as anthropology, art history, chemistry, classical literature, ethnology, geology, history, information technology, linguistics, palaeontology, physics, statistics, and so on. The wide scope of the subject therefore opens number of employment areas too. The profession of Archaeology offers interesting job opportunities in government as well as in private sectors. An archaeology graduate can work on the following areas:

•       Regional Archaeologist
•       Research Archaeologist
•       State Archaeologist
•       Historic Preservation Officer
•       Park Ranger
•       Archaeological Field Technician
•       Archaeological Lab Technician
•       Museum Technician
•       Archaeological Surveyor
•       Public Education and Outreach Coordinator
•       Prehistoric Archaeology
•       Classical Archaeology
•       Near Eastern or Biblical Archaeology
•       Historical Archaeology
•       North American Archaeology
•       Geoarchaeology
•       Environmental Archaeology
•       Egyptology
•       Contract Archaeologist
•       Cultural Resources Specialist
•       Archaeological Field Director
•       Archaeological Lab Director
•       Collections Manager
•       Archaeological Lab Technician
•       Archaeological Field Technician
•       Public Education and Outreach Coordinator

Most of the universities in India that have a department of archaeology offer this subject at the post-graduation level and beyond it. In this regard, the first step towards becoming a successful archaeologist is to obtain a graduate degree.