Archaeology

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For other uses, see Archaeology (disambiguation).
"Archaeologist" and "Archeologist" redirect here. For the magazine, see The Archaeologist. For the
silent film, see The Archeologist.
Anthropology

 Outline
 History

Types[hide]
 Archaeological
 Biological
 Cultural
 Linguistic
 Social

Archaeological[show]

Biological[show]

 Social

 Cultural

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Archaeology, or archeology,[1] is the study of human activity through the recovery

and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists
of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts and cultural landscapes. Archaeology can be
 considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities.[2][3] In North America archaeology is
a sub-field of anthropology,[4] while in Europe it is often viewed as either a discipline in its own right
or a sub-field of other disciplines.
Archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone
tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology is distinct
from palaeontology, the study of fossil remains. It is particularly important for learning about
prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over
99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the
world.[2] Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to
reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through
time.[5]
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, literary
history, linguistics, semiology, textual criticism, physics, information
sciences, chemistry, statistics, paleoecology, paleography, paleontology, paleozoology,
and paleobotany.
Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, and has since
become a discipline practiced across the world. Archaeology has been used by nation-states to
create particular visions of the past.[6] 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, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts,[7] a lack of public interest,
and opposition to the excavation of human remains.

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Antiquarians
o 1.2First excavations
o 1.3Development of archaeological method
 2Purpose
o 2.1Theory
 3Methods
o 3.1Remote sensing
o 3.2Field survey
o 3.3Excavation
o 3.4Analysis
o 3.5Computational and virtual archaeology
o 3.6Drones
 4Academic sub-disciplines
o 4.1Historical archaeology
o 4.2Ethnoarchaeology
o 4.3Experimental archaeology
o 4.4Archaeometry
o 4.5Cultural resources management
 5Popular views of archaeology
 6Current issues and controversy
o 6.1Public archaeology
 o 6.2Pseudoarchaeology
o 6.3Looting
o 6.4Descendant peoples
 6.4.1Repatriation
 7See also
 8References
 9Bibliography
 10Further reading
 11External links

History[edit]
Main article: History of archaeology
Antiquarians[edit]
Main article: Antiquarian