Archaeology

I

Introduction

Archaeology, the scientific study of past human culture and behavior, from the origins of humans to the present. Archaeology studies past human behavior through the examination of material remains of previous human societies. These remains include the fossils (preserved bones) of humans, food remains, the ruins of buildings, and human artifacts—items such as tools, pottery, and jewelry. From their studies, archaeologists attempt to reconstruct past ways of life. Archaeology is an important field of anthropology, which is the broad study of human culture and biology. Archaeologists concentrate their studies on past societies and changes in those societies over extremely long periods of time.

With its focus on the ancient past, archaeology somewhat resembles paleontology—the study of fossils of long-extinct animals, such as dinosaurs. However, archaeology is distinct from paleontology and studies only past human life. Archaeology also examines many of the same topics explored by historians. But unlike history—the study of written records such as government archives, personal correspondence, and business documents—most of the information gathered in archaeology comes from the study of objects lying on or under the ground (see History and Historiography).

Archaeologists refer to the vast store of information about the human past as the archaeological record. The archaeological 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. Archaeologists study the archaeological record through field surveys and excavations and through the laboratory study of collected materials.

Many of the objects left behind by past human societies are not present in the archaeological record because they have disintegrated over time. The material remains that still exist after hundreds, thousands, or millions of years have survived because of favorable preservation conditions in the soil or atmosphere. For the most part, the only things that survive are durable items such as potsherds (small fragments of pottery), tools or buildings of stone, bones, and teeth (which survive because they are covered with hard enamel). Because many items disintegrate over time, archaeologists get an incomplete view of the past that they must fill in with other kinds of information and educated reasoning. On rare occasions, however, delicate objects have been preserved. For example, fabrics and flowers were found in the celebrated tomb of Tutankhamun, an Egyptian pharaoh who was buried in 1323 bc.

---

---

Archaeology became established as a formal discipline in the 19th and early 20th centuries. At that time, most archaeological work was confined to Europe, to the so-called cradle of civilization in southwestern Asia, and to a few areas of the Americas. Today, archaeologists study the great cultural diversity of humanity in every corner of the world.

II

The Scope of Archaeology

Archaeological study covers an extremely long span of time and a great variety of subjects. The earliest subjects of archaeological study date from the origins of humanity. These include fossil remains believed to be of human ancestors who lived 3.5 million to 4.5 million years ago. 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 (upright-walking), apelike early humans. Laetoli even reveals footprints of humans from 3.6 million years ago. Some sites also contain evidence of the earliest use of simple tools. Archaeologists have also recorded how primitive forms of humans spread out of Africa into Asia about 1.8 million years ago, then into Europe about 900,000 years ago.

The first physically modern humans, Homo sapiens, appeared in tropical Africa between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago—dates determined by molecular biologists and archaeologists working together. Dozens of archaeological sites throughout Asia and Europe show how people migrated from Africa and settled these two continents during the last Ice Age (100,000 to 15,000 years ago). Archaeological studies have also provided much information about the people who first arrived in the Americas over 12,000 years ago.

Archaeologists have documented that the development of agriculture took place about 10,000 years ago. Early domestication—the planting and harvesting of plants and the breeding and herding of animals—is evident in such places as the ancient settlement of Jericho in Jordan and in Tehuacán Valley in Mexico. Archaeology plays a major role in the study of early civilizations, such as those of the Sumerians of Mesopotamia, who built the city of Ur, and the ancient Egyptians, who are famous for the pyramids near the city of Giza and the royal sepulchres (tombs) of the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. Other sites that represent great human achievement are as varied as the cliff dwellings of the ancient Anasazi (a group of early Native Americans of North America) at Mesa Verde, Colorado (see Mesa Verde National Park); the Inca city of Machu Picchu high in the Andes Mountains of Peru; and the mysterious, massive stone portrait heads of remote Easter Island in the Pacific.

Archaeological research spans the entire development of phenomena that are unique to humans. For instance, archaeology tells the story of when people learned to bury their dead and developed beliefs in an afterlife. Sites containing signs of the first simple but purposeful burials in graves date to as early as 40,000 years ago in Europe and Southwest Asia. By the time people lived in civilizations, burials and funeral ceremonies had become extremely important and elaborate rituals. For example, the Moche lords of Sipán in coastal Peru were buried in about ad 400 in fine cotton dress and with exquisite ornaments of bead, gold, and silver. Few burials rival their lavish sepulchres. 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.

Archaeology also examines more recent historical periods. Some archaeologists work with historians to study American colonial life, for example. They have learned such diverse information as how the earliest colonial settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, traded glass beads for food with native Algonquian peoples; how the lives of slaves on plantations reflected their roots in Africa; and how the first major cities in the United States developed. One research project involves the study of garbage in present-day cities across the United States. This garbage is the modern equivalent of the remains found in the archaeological record. In the future, archaeologists will continue to move into new realms of study.

III

Fields of Archaeology

Archaeology covers such an enormous span of time that archaeologists specialize in different time periods and different cultures. They also specialize in particular methods of study. Some archaeologists study human biological and cultural evolution up to the emergence of modern humans. Others focus on more recent periods of major cultural development, such as the rise of civilizations. Some study only the ancient or classical civilizations of the Middle East or Europe. Others research later historical subjects and time periods, using both written and archaeological evidence. Many archaeologists have expertise in other fields that are important to archaeological study, including physical anthropology (the study of human biology and anatomy), geology, ecology, and climatology (the science of weather patterns).

A

Prehistoric Archaeology

Prehistoric archaeology is practiced by archaeologists known as prehistorians and deals with ancient cultures that did not have writing of any kind. Prehistory, a term coined by 19th-century French scholars, covers past human life from its origins up to the advent of written records. History—that is, the human past documented in some form of writing—began 5000 years ago in parts of southwestern Asia and as recently as the late 19th century ad in central Africa and parts of the Americas. Because there are no written records for prehistory, prehistorians rely entirely on material remains for evidence.

Discoveries of early human ancestors have changed the way many people think about what it means to be human. For instance, researchers working in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya have found evidence that some human ancestors who lived about 2 million years ago were scavengers. They used stone tools to butcher game taken from the kills of predators such as lions. In 1978 at Laetoli, Tanzania, paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey discovered a fascinating early human site: sets of hominid footprints left in now-hardened volcanic ash. This find provides some of the strongest evidence that hominids walked upright as early as 3.6 million years ago.

Some prehistorians specialize in studying various periods of the Stone Age. This period of human cultural development began about 2.5 million years ago, when humans learned to make simple stone tools. The Stone Age ended at different times in different parts of the world, roughly within the last 10,000 years.

Important Stone Age archaeological sites include the 32,000-year-old rock paintings of the Grotte de Chauvet cave in southeastern France (see Paleolithic Art) and Syria’s 10,000-year-old Abu Hureyra farming village in the Euphrates Valley. By analyzing plant remains at Abu Hureyra in the 1970s and 1980s, British archaeologist and botanist Gordon Hillman showed that the inhabitants of this village were among the earliest people to cultivate wild cereal grasses, ones that evolved into what we know today as wheat and barley.

	More from Encarta
	•  Important Notice: MSN Encarta to be discontinued. Learn more. •  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain