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"

The American School of Spies: The Archaeologists Who Fought the Nazis and Saved the Treasures of Ancient Greece

The Ark Files (Eden Black Archaeological Thrillers #1)

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

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

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

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

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

The Lost Voices of Pompeii: Life and Death on Pompeii's Final Day

Dark Dive (Underwater Investigation Unit, #5)

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

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

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

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

Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age

The Antique Store Detective (Bella Winter Mystery)

After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of Civilizations

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

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

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

The Buried City: Unearthing the Real Pompeii

The Cleopatra Cipher (Adrian West Adventures #1)

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

The Museum Detective (A Museum Detective Novel)

Worthy of Legend (The Secrets of the Isles, #3)

The Naked Neanderthal: A New Understanding of the Human Creature

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

Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age

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

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

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

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

The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women

Ancestors: A History of Britain in Seven Burials

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

The Locked Tomb Mystery: and Other Stories

X Marks the Spot: The gripping true story behind the world's most extraordinary archaeological discoveries

When the Sahara Was Green: How Our Greatest Desert Came to Be

Our Oldest Companions: The Story of the First Dogs

First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human

Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas

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

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

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

The Four Heavens: A New History of the Ancient Maya (Unearthing the Past)

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

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

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

The Northwomen: Untold Stories From the Other Half of the Viking World

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

Αρχαιολογία αγάπη μου …έλα πάρε με από δω

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

The Atlantis Conspiracy (Adrian West Adventures #3)

Cleopatra's Daughter: From Roman Prisoner to African Queen

Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws: And Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities

Egypt's Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth

Buried: An Alternative History of the First Millennium in Britain

Thames Mudlarking: Searching for London's Lost Treasures

The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere

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

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

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

A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins

The Other Ancient Civilisations: Decoding Archaeology’s Less Celebrated Cultures (History Gifts, Ancient World History)

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

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

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

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Quotes Tagged “Archaeology”

“ It's interesting to see that people had so much clutter even thousands of years ago. The only way to get rid of it all was to bury it, and then some archaeologist went and dug it all up. ...more ”
― Karl Pilkington, An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington

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“ Until humans came and made anthills out of these mountains, Diwan Sahib was saying, looking up at the langurs, the land had belonged to these monkeys, and to barking deer, nilgai, tiger, barasingha, leopards, jackals, the great horned owl, and even to cheetahs and lions. The archaeology of the wilderness consisted of these lost animals, not of ruined walls, terracotta amulets, and potsherds. ”
― Anuradha Roy, The Folded Earth

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