Archaeology
The 2,000-year-old remains of Ancient Rome
in Italy are being excavated and mapped by
these archaeologists.
Roman theatre, Alexandria, Egypt
Excavated ruins of Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan.
Archaeology, archeology, or archæology
(from Greek ἀρχαιολογία, archaiologia –
ἀρχαῖος, archaīos, "primal, ancient, old"; and
-λογία,
-logia) is the science that studies
human cultures through the recovery, docu-
mentation, analysis, and interpretation of ma-
terial remains and environmental data, in-
cluding architecture,
artifacts,
features,
biofacts, and landscapes. Because archae-
ology’s aim is to understand humankind, it is
a humanistic endeavor.[1] Furthermore, due
to its analysis of human cultures, it is there-
fore a subset of anthropology, which con-
tains: Physical anthropology, Cultural anthro-
pology, Archaeology, and linguistics.[2] There
is debate as to what archaeology’s goals are.
Some goals include the documentation and
explanation of the origins and development of
human cultures, understanding culture his-
tory, chronicling cultural evolution, and
studying human behavior and ecology, for
both prehistoric and historic societies.
Archaeologists are also concerned with
the study of methods used in the discipline,
and the theoretical and philosophical under-
pinnings underlying the questions archaeolo-
gists ask of the past. The tasks of surveying
areas in order to find new sites, excavating
sites in order to recover cultural remains,
classification, analysis, and preservation are
all important phases of the archaeological
process. Given the broad scope of the discip-
line there is a great deal of cross-disciplinary
research in archaeology. It draws upon an-
thropology, history, art history, classics, eth-
nology, geography,[3] geology,[4][5][6]
lin-
guistics, physics, information sciences, chem-
istry, statistics, paleoecology, paleontology,
paleozoology,
paleoethnobotany,
and
paleobotany.
History of archaeology
Origins and definitions
In parts of Europe and the Old World, the dis-
cipline has its roots i