Why is archaeology important?

Archaeologists use artifacts and other physical evidence to study human nature. They are responsible for
sharing what they’ve learned with their peers and the scientific community. They study the past to
understand the development of human culture both prehistory and currently. Archaeology is similar to
other prehistoric fields of study such as paleontology or astronomy. Archaeology helps humans
understand where we came from and we function the way we do.

The article describes archaeology to be similar to many other fields of science and also including these
within itself. Chemistry is used in carbon dating, a form of absolute dating. Geology explains how and
when humans were able to migrate across the continents. Rather than being just about digging holes to
find old human remains, archaeology uses other fields to help draw possible conclusions or likely
explanations for their findings. This mix allows for archaeologists to paint a picture of prehistoric humans
despite humanity developing over millions of years.

Podcast: Homo Naledi

The podcast describes a cave system that is very remote and difficult to access, and then informs the
listeners that in large chambers there are remains of hominins. These hominins are similar to modern
humans in many ways while still retain certain features pertaining to much earlier human ancestors.
Anthropologists expected to date the remains of the hominins much earlier, but found them to live
between 236,000 and 335,000 years ago. this meant that this species of hominin was alive during the
same time frame as modern humans. The researchers still don’t have an exact answer for why these
early human ancestors were deep under the ground in dark caves with no evidence of tools or fire. One
popular theory was that the hominin buried their dead by placing them in the chambers.

Many other caves in prehistory were used as shelters and have evidence of fire, food, and tools proving
that they were used as a shelter. These caves lacked those pieces of evidence, while also maintaining
that it was unlikely they were stuck on accident or attacked and dragged there by predators. This cave
being used for something uncommon in prehistory was interesting to me because I like to think human
ancestors were smarter than cartoonish cavemen.