Most Read This Week In Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology (from Greek ἀρχαιολογία, archaiologia – ἀρχαῖος, arkhaīos, "ancient"; and -λογία, -logiā, "-logy"), is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture and environmental data which they have left behind, which includes artefacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes (the archaeological record). The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, and cultural landscapes. Archaeologists study human prehistory and history. In the United States it is thought of as a branch of anthropology, altho Archaeology, or archeology (from Greek ἀρχαιολογία, archaiologia – ἀρχαῖος, arkhaīos, "ancient"; and -λογία, -logiā, "-logy"), is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture and environmental data which they have left behind, which includes artefacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes (the archaeological record). The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, and cultural landscapes. Archaeologists study human prehistory and history. In the United States it is thought of as a branch of anthropology, although in Europe it is viewed as a separate discipline.

Archaeology studies human history from the development of the first stone tools in eastern Africa 3.4 million years ago up until recent decades. It is of most importance for learning about prehistoric societies, when there are no written records for historians to study, and which makes up over 99% of total human history, from the Palaeolithic until the advent of literacy in any given society. Archaeology has various different goals, which range from studying human evolution to cultural evolution and understanding culture history.

The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past. In broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. It draws upon anthropology, history, art history, classics, ethnology, geography, geology, linguistics, physics, information sciences, chemistry, statistics, palaeoecology, palaeontology, palaeozoology, palaeoethnobotany, and palaeobotany.

Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, and has since become a discipline practised across the world. Since its early development, various specific sub-disciplines of archaeology have developed, including maritime archaeology, feminist archaeology and archaeoastronomy, and numerous different scientific techniques have been developed to aid archaeological investigation. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, ranging from dealing with pseudoarchaeology to the looting of artefacts and opposition to the excavation of human remains. ...more

Most Read This Week Tagged "Archaeology"

Tomb of the Sun King (Raiders of the Arcana #2)

The Way of the Bear (Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito #26)

A Grave in the Woods (Bruno, Chief of Police #17)

The Ark Files (Eden Black Archaeological Thrillers #1)

Neptune's Fortune: The Billion-Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish Empire

Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations

The Buried City: Unearthing the Real Pompeii

Arrow of Fortune (Raiders of the Arcana, #3)

The Museum Detective (A Museum Detective Novel)

The Far Edges of the Known World: Life Beyond the Borders of Ancient Civilization

Dark Dive (Underwater Investigation Unit, #5)

Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World

Goliath's Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse

The Antique Store Detective (Bella Winter Mystery)

Charlie Thorne and the Curse of Cleopatra (Charlie Thorne #3)

The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder

The One Impossible Labyrinth (Jack West Jr, #7)

Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age

After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of Civilizations

The Mesopotamian Riddle: An Archaeologist, a Soldier, a Clergyman, and the Race to Decipher the World's Oldest Writing

River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Road

Domination: The Fall of the Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity

The Cleopatra Cipher (Adrian West Adventures #1)

Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Empire

Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction

Into the Storm (Evidence: Under Fire, #1)

Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern

Love, War, and Diplomacy: The Discovery of the Amarna Letters and the Bronze Age World They Revealed

A Time to Seek (The Time Travel Journals of Sahara Aldridge #1)

When the Stones Speak: The Remarkable Discovery of the City of David and What Israel's Enemies Don't Want You To Know

Of Silver and Secrets (Time's Lost Treasures, #2)

Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East

Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age

A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins

Wild New World: The Epic Story of Animals and People in America

A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks

The Encyclopedia of the Weird and Wonderful: Curious and Incredible Facts that Will Blow Your Mind

The Ship Beneath the Ice: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance

Stone Lands: A Journey of Darkness and Light Through Britain’s Ancient Places

The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World

Αρχαιολογία αγάπη μου …έλα πάρε με από δω

The Language Puzzle: Piecing Together the Six-Million-Year Story of How Words Evolved

The Secret Life of Hidden Places: Concealed Rooms, Clandestine Passageways, and the Curious Minds That Made Them

Big Meg: The Story of the Largest and Most Mysterious Predator that Ever Lived

Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World

Buried: An Alternative History of the First Millennium in Britain

Never Greater Slaughter: Brunanburh and the Birth of England

The World Before Us: How Science is Revealing a New Story of Our Human Origins

The Locked Tomb Mystery: and Other Stories

The Secret World of Denisovans: The Epic Story of the Ancient Cousins to Sapiens and Neanderthals

The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins

Steeple Chasing: Around Britain by Church

Listen to the Land Speak: A Journey into the Wisdom of What Lies Beneath Us

The Naked Neanderthal: A New Understanding of the Human Creature

Cleopatra's Daughter: From Roman Prisoner to African Queen

Lost Realms: Histories of Britain from the Romans to the Vikings

Sinkable: Obsession, the Deep Sea and the Shipwreck of the Titanic

Shadowlands: A Journey Through Britain's Lost Cities and Vanished Villages

Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas

The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone

The King's Shadow: Obsession, Betrayal, and the Deadly Quest for the Lost City of Alexandria

Ancestors: A History of Britain in Seven Burials

True Raiders: The Untold Story of the 1909 Expedition to Find the Legendary Ark of the Covenant

The First Kingdom: Britain in the Age of Arthur

Curse of the Specter Queen (Samantha Knox, #1)

The Atlantis Conspiracy (Adrian West Adventures #3)

What to Expect When You're Dead: An Ancient Tour of Death and the Afterlife

The Great Museum of the Sea: A Human History of Shipwrecks

Stolen Fragments: Black Markets, Bad Faith, and the Illicit Trade in Ancient Artefacts

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Quotes Tagged “Archaeology”

“ Programming went back to the beginning of time. It was a little like the midden out back of his father's castle. ...more ”
― Vernor Vinge, A Deepness in the Sky

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“ The geologist takes up the history of the earth at the point where the archaeologist leaves it, and carries it further back into remote antiquity. ”
― Bal Gangadhar Tilak, The Arctic Home in the Vedas

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