Archaeology: Excavating Our Past

Archaeology: Excavating Our Past — page 7 — CHAPTER 1 BRANCHES AND TRAINING NN he field of study called archaeology combines the excitement of trea JL sure hunting with the investigative labor of detective work The materials of archaeological study are both the things made by people and the things used by them All the things fashioned by people including settlements buildings tools weapons objects of ornament and pure art are called artifacts Nonartifactual materials things that were used but not made or fashioned include the unworked bones of the animals that were eaten the traces of the plants that were either grown or collected for food and the charcoal from ancient hearths Since the mid 20th century there has been another shift in the emphasis of archae ological study from finding out how cultures change to trying to understand why they change Some modern archaeologists are try ing to establish archaeology as a true science from which generalizations or laws can be made about the causes of cultural change 12

Archaeology: Excavating Our Past — page 8 — ESCO 9 a gED Archaeologists put artifacts such as these swords and armor from the 1700s into historical context to help us better understand the past DEA G Dagli Ortil Getty Images 13

Archaeology: Excavating Our Past — page 9 — ARCHAEOLOGY ExCAVATING OUR PAST TRAINING Usually a student of archaeology obtains a Bachelor of Arts degree and then pursues a doctorate in a chosen field of archaeology In addition to classwork the graduate student must complete work in the field and in the laboratory The student often uses this work to support a thesis an original dissertation outlining and supporting the solution of some ARTIFACTS In archaeology artifacts are the material remains of past human life and activities These include everything from the very earliest stone tools to the human made objects that are buried or thrown away in the present day everything made by human beings from simple tools to complex machines from the earliest houses temples and tombs to palaces cathedrals and pyramids The main aim of the archaeologist is to place artifacts in historical contexts to supplement what may be known from written sources and to increase understanding of the past Because it concerns things people have made the most direct findings of archaeology bear on the history of art and technology By inference archaeology also yields informa tion about the society religion and economy of the people who created the artifacts 14

Archaeology: Excavating Our Past — page 10 — BRANCHES AND TRAINING specific archaeological problem of the stu dent's choosing Once students have earned their Ph D Doctor of Philosophy degrees they are ready to look for a job in archaeology Archaeologists are employed in museums col leges and universities government agencies and private research foundations BRANCHES There are two main branches of archaeology classical or historical archaeology and anthro pological or prehistoric archaeology The education and training of an archaeologist are divided along these two lines though the gen eral of each is similar sequence CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY Classical or historical archaeology explores the records and artifacts of ancient civilizations Classical archaeologists are par ticularly interested in the early cultures of the Mediterranean and the Near East especially Greece Rome Persia now Iran Egypt and Mesopotamia now part of Iraq and also in the civilizations of ancient China of the Indus River valley in modern Pakistan and of 15

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