WHAT IS ARCHAEOLOGY? An Overview 2021

STUDY OF ARCHAEOLOGY

 The study archaeology is the study of human activity via the recovery and examination of material culture is known as archaeology. Artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, and cultural landscapes make up the archaeological record. Archaeology is a social science and a humanities branch at the same time. Archaeology is a sub-field of anthropology in North America, although it is viewed as a discipline in its own right or a sub-field of other disciplines in Europe.

From the formation of the earliest stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago to recent decades, archaeologists investigate human prehistory and history. Palaeontology, the study of fossil remains, is not the same as archaeology. It's especially crucial when studying prehistoric societies because there aren't always written records to study. From the Paleolithic through the introduction of literacy in communities around the world, prehistory encompasses almost 99 percent of human history. Understanding culture history, reconstructing ancient lifeways, and documenting and explaining changes in human societies over time are all purposes of archaeology.

Surveying, excavation, and data analysis are all part of the process of learning more about the past. Archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research in its broadest sense. It incorporates 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, among other disciplines.

Archaeology arose from antiquarianism in Europe during the nineteenth century and has since spread around the world. Nation-states have exploited archaeology to develop certain images of the past. Maritime archaeology, feminist archaeology, and archaeoastronomy are only a few of the sub-disciplines of archaeology that have emerged since its inception, as have other scientific methodologies to enhance archaeological study. Nonetheless, archaeologists now confront numerous challenges, including pseudoarchaeology, artifact looting, a lack of public interest, and hostility to the excavation of human remains.

Historical archaeology

The study of cultures with some kind of writing is known as historical archaeology.

Archaeologists in England have discovered the layouts of 14th century medieval settlements that were abandoned following crises such as the Black Death. Archaeologists have exhumed the 18th century bones of the African Burial Ground in New York City.

Ethnoarchaeology

Ethnoarchaeology is the anthropological study of living people with the goal of assisting us in deciphering the archaeological record. [The approach rose to popularity during the 1960s processual movement, and it remains a vital component of post-processual and other contemporary archaeological approaches.] Early ethnoarchaeological studies concentrated on hunter-gatherer or foraging societies; today, ethnoarchaeological studies include a far broader variety of human behavior.

Experimental archaeology

The use of the experimental technique to concentrate additional controlled observations of processes that kind and result the archeologic record is understood as experimental archeology. The scientific method became progressively necessary within the setting of processualism's positivism, that aimed to boost the scientific rigor of archeologic epistemologies. Experimentation remains a crucial a part of rising inferential frameworks for decoding archeologic information.

Archeometry

The goal of archaeometry is to standardize archaeological measurements. It stresses the use of physics, chemistry, and engineering analytical approaches. It's a discipline of study that focuses on determining the chemical composition of archaeological remains for the purposes of source analysis. Archaeometry also looks at the spatial qualities of features using techniques like space syntax and geodesy, as well as computer-based technologies like geographic information system technology. Patterns of rare earth elements can also be used.The study of prehistoric and non-industrial culture via scientific investigation of the structure and qualities of materials connected with human activity is a relatively new topic called archaeological materials.

Administration of cultural resources

Archaeology is a subset of cultural resources management (CRM), which is also known as heritage management in the United Kingdom. CRM archaeologists investigate archaeological sites that are under threat of development on a regular basis. CRM now accounts for the majority of archaeological research in the United States, as well as much of that in Western Europe. Since the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in 1966, CRM archaeology has become a growing concern in the United States, and most taxpayers, scholars, and politicians believe that CRM has helped preserve much of the country's history and prehistory that would have otherwise been lost due to the expansion of cities, dams, and highways. The NHPA, among other statutes, requires that projects on federal land or involving government funds or licenses take into account the project's impact on each archaeological site.

CRM is used in more than only government-funded projects in the United Kingdom. PPG has mandated planners to consider archaeology as a material component in assessing new development applications since 1990. As a result, many archaeological organizations, at the expense of the developer, perform mitigation work in archaeologically sensitive locations before to (or during) building.

In England, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in collaboration with English Heritage, is responsible for the historic environment. Historic Scotland Cadw and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, respectively, have the same obligations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The Institut national du patrimoine (National Institute of Cultural Heritage) in France educates archaeological curators. Their goal is to improve the objects that have been discovered. The curator serves as a link between scientific knowledge, administrative regulations, and historical artifacts, as well as the general audience.

Identifying, preserving, and maintaining cultural sites on public and private properties, as well as removing culturally significant items from regions where they might otherwise be damaged by human activity, such as projected building, are all purposes of CRM. This research entails at the very least a basic inspection to see if any significant archaeological sites are extant in the region that will be impacted by the proposed building. If they do exist, time and money must be set aside to investigate them. If preliminary survey and/or test excavations reveal the presence of an extremely valuable site, development may be completely forbidden.

However, the management of cultural resources has been challenged. CRM is carried out by private businesses that compete for projects by presenting bids that include the work to be done as well as a financial estimate. It is not uncommon for the construction agency to just choose the bid that requests the least amount of money. CRM archaeologists are frequently under time constraints, having to accomplish their task in a fraction of the time permitted for a purely intellectual endeavor. The screening procedure of site reports that CRM businesses are expected (in the US) to submit to the proper State Historic Preservation Office adds to the time constraint (SHPO). There should be no distinction between a report provided by a CRM business working under a deadline and a multi-year academic endeavor in the eyes of the SHPO. As a result, a Cultural Resource Management archaeologist must be able to create academic-quality documentation at a corporate-world pace in order to be effective.

The annual ratio of open academic archaeology positions (including postdoctoral, temporary, and non-tenure track appointments) to the annual number of MA/MSc and PhD students in archaeology is unequal. CRM offices are increasingly staffed by advanced degreed professionals with a track record of publishing scholarly articles as well as considerable CRM field experience, which was long regarded an intellectual backwater for those with "strong backs and weak minds".