Pre-History – Archeology and the Study of ancient

remains

Who are they?

 Palaeontologists are not archaeologists; they study fossils.

 Historians are not archaeologists; the mostly study written records.

 A Geologist studies mostly rock formations and terrains.

 Archaeologists are the scientists who study artefacts, man-made objects that
people have left behind.

What is Archaeology?

The word 'archaeology' comes from the Greek word arkhaiologia,

which means 'ancient history,' and it's pretty fascinating
stuff! Archaeologists are the scientists who study the remains of
past civilizations and groups of people.

An archaeologist is someone who tries to figure out what life was like in the
ancient past by looking at the remains of ancient people - their fossils and their
artefacts. Usually Archaeologists study remains of the times when writing wasn‟t
yet invented – Pre-History. By looking at artefacts, they try to figure out how long
ago people lived, how they governed themselves, what art they created, their
religious beliefs, their technology, science, and inventions, and their daily life.
Even though science has helped them to make their work more accurate and
reliable; they have to piece together a lot of evidence and fill in the gap with their
„interpretation‟. As other remains may be uncovered, their initial „interpretation‟
might change or be confirmed.

While looking for artefacts to study, archaeologists can find themselves in some
very dangerous situations. Archaeologists don't have as much excitement and
danger in their lives as portrayed in the Indiana Jones movies, but it still can be
pretty exciting when they do piece together a puzzle and discover something new!

An archaeologist must know the difference between an artefact and a fossil.

Artefact vs Fossil

 Fossils are the remains of living things (plants, animals, people), not of
things that were made.

 Artefacts are the remains of things that were made, not the remains of
living things.

How Does an Archaeologist Know Where to

Dig?
A "site" is a place archaeologists wish to explore. At the site, archaeologists
literally dig, looking for the remains of an ancient civilization. That is why they call
the site at which they are working a "dig".

Over time, things and places get covered up and buried. When something lays on
the ground day after day, year after year, leaves fall on it, dust blows, and little by
little it slowly gets covered up. Before an archaeologist conducts a dig, they do lots
of research to determine where they might start.
First, archaeologists know that people need certain things to help them stay alive.
These include easy access to water, trade and migration routes, and food sources.
With this knowledge and some research, archaeologists can locate the most likely
places where people may have lived.

Sometimes farmers and builders uncover artefacts while working around their
properties, and an archaeologist will come in to see if the artefacts are signs of a
larger human settlement buried on the site. Archaeologists also look at
buildings, ruins, unusual mounds or sunken spots in the land. Sometimes,
archaeologists can tell where old roads or walls once stood by looking at aerial
photographs. Other times, they can get clues from old books, documents and
maps. All of these provide potential starting places for archaeologists to research
and determine if they'll conduct a dig.

What Do Archaeologists Look For When They Are Digging?

Once an archaeologist locates a site, does the initial research, and gets permission
to conduct a dig, then the work really begins! Archaeologists look for lots of
different things when they begin a dig:

 The thing that most often comes to mind when people think about a dig are
artefacts. Artefacts are objects like tools or pottery, things that people could
have moved or carried. These are the things some people consider to be the
“buried treasure.”

 Archaeologists also look for clues about past environments in things like
seeds, animal bones and soil types. These types of finds are sometimes called
“eco-facts.”

 They also look for features or things that people made or did that can't be
moved. Things like walls, floors or fireplaces. These types of things are called
“features.”
What happens at the Dig?

One of the best places for an

archaeologist to learn about a past
civilization is a “midden.” A midden
is the term archaeologists use for a
garbage dump from the past. Yep, a
garbage dump! Why garbage, you
ask? Well, garbage can tell us a lot
about how people lived.

In ancient garbage heaps Stratigraphy – The study of layering, in which the

archaeologists can find animal bones, things found at the bottom are the oldest remains,
shells, human excrement, remains of whilst those at the top are the most „modern‟.
fruits, vegetables and other plants,
The picture shows a „midden‟.
and fragments of glass and pottery.
All of these provide important clues about day-to-day life.

Think about your garbage can. What would it tell people about your life? Just
think, you may be the archaeologist's dream come true in a few thousand years!

Before they begin digging, archaeologists design a grid on the ground, using rope
and string. Each square in the grid must be carefully searched. A record must be
kept of anything found, including what was found next to it.

The tools they use are sometimes very simple. Tools can
include trowels, brushes, spoons, dental picks, saws,
measuring tape, notebook, camera, sieve, dustpans, and
wheelbarrows.

Digging at a site is slow and careful work. Each grid must

be searched very carefully.
Once objects are labelled and removed from a site, they are taken to a lab,
relabelled, and placed in a database. Archaeologists use this information to put
together pieces of the past.

It takes a great deal of education, training, patience, and attention to detail to

work as an archaeologist.

Dating of artefacts is called archaeometry. Archaeologists use different methods

of archaeometry. Sometimes an artefact is easy to date because the date is on it,
as we see on most coins. It is also easy to date an artefact if there are dates in
written records mentioning the artefact. Unfortunately, most of the time dating is
harder.

There are two major ways of dating objects. They are relative dating and absolute
dating.

Answer the following questions. Be brief and concise!

1. What is an archaeologist?
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2. What kind of tools do archaeologists use?

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3. What does it take to work as an archaeologist?

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4. Why do you think it is important to know the difference between a fossil and
an artefact?

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5. What is a site?

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6. Why is digging a site a slow process?

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7. What is archaeometry?

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8. What skills do you think that an Archaeologist needs to be successful?

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9. Can you mention some other tools used by Archaeologists which are not
mentioned in this note?

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