What is Archaeology?

Introduction to Social Sciences SS 1201

Session 3: February 19
Spring 2018
 Acknowledgement
• The following presentation has adopted slides/
materials from different websites;
• https://www.slideshare.net/oclinda/archaeology-po
wer-point-presentation
• people.wku.edu/marge.maxwell/Resources/.../McCr
ay/Archeology.ppt
• www.iupui.edu/~mstd/a103/what%20arch%20is.ppt
• Video: The Indus Valley Civilization Mohenjodaro and
Harappa
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV_5fI_9b3M
 Outline
• Re-connect with History
• What Is Anthropology?
• Archaeology is
Anthropology
• What Is Archaeology?
• Fundamentals of
Archaeology
• Doing Archaeology
• What do archaeologists do?
• History of Archaeology
• Early American Archaeology
• Modern Scientific
Archaeology
• Academic Goals of
Archeology
• Applied Goals of Archaeology
• Types of Archaeology
• Basic concepts
• Basic concepts & Terms
• Archaeological and Historical
sites of Pakistan
 Re-connect with History
• How does History relate with Archaeology?
– Both disciplines deal with the human past;
• Both rely on ‘researching the past’
– However the ‘sources’ from which the research
material is derived are different;
– Historians use written sources
• Projects of ‘Oral Histories’
– Archaeologists concentrate on physical remains.
 What Is Anthropology?
• Anthropology is the study of people and their
culture any place and any time.
• There are four sub-disciplines or branches of
Anthropology:
– Archeology,
– Cultural anthropology or the study of living people, l
– Linguistic anthropology or the study of language and
how it has changed over time
– biological or physical anthropology is the study of the
evolution of humans
 Archaeology is Anthropology
• Archaeology is anthropology or it is nothing.
– Collectors vs. Archaeologists
• collectors are after artifacts for money or for personal collections.
• archaeologists are after knowledge.
• Context is the most important thing to archaeology.
– the time and space in which objects occur in the ground.
– systematic study of the past in this context.
 What Is Archaeology?
• It is a sub-discipline of Anthropology.
• Archeology is the systematic, scientific recovery
and analysis of artifacts
– The purpose is to answer questions about past human
culture and behavior.
• But what does this definition tell us about
Archeology and Archaeologists?
– Systematic
– Scientific recovery
– Analysis of artifacts
 What Is …..?
• Systematic
– A consistent way of studying anything.
– Or doing it the same way every time.
• Science is the methods and knowledge of studying
anything.
– Archeologist, like any science, use the scientific methods.
• Recovery/ Analysis is to collect and study artifacts.
– Archeologists use several methods borrowed from other
scientific fields to do this.
• An artifact is any item resulting from human activity
– Fossils are not artifacts,
• they were not made by humans.
 What Is …..?
• Systematic
– A consistent way of studying anything.
– Or doing it the same way every time.
• Science is the methods and knowledge of
studying anything.
– Archeologist, like any science, use the scientific
methods.
• Archeology is a question-based science.
– Archeologists always develop a question they want
answered before they do anything else.
– The past can be 50 years ago or 3 million years ago.
 What Is ……?
Analysis of artifacts
• Question-based: Archaeologists study artifacts in order to
answer questions about how humans lived.
• Past: Archaeologists study human cultures that are no longer
living.
• Culture: Any learned behavior that is shared with others.
• Archeologists study artifacts of people no longer living in
order to learn about how they may have lived. Culture is any
learned behavior shared with others. This could be writing,
making a pot, or how you relate to family.
 Fundamentals of Archaeology
1. Site discovery and selection
– Excavation of artifacts, eco-facts, and features
– Analysis for dates, attributes, and environment
2. How are Sites Formed?
– Taphonomy: a study of how life forms or artifacts
are located at a particular location
– Remains of life forms from the past
– Petrifaction: replacement of bone with mineral or
stone
 Fundamentals ……..
3. How are Items Preserved?
• Some materials resist deterioration:
• Bone: Skulls and teeth
• Stone or Metal (tools, ornaments)
• Seeds, with protective covers
• Others may be preserved by
• Arid climates (Peruvian coast)
• Water: Planks in Lakes in France
• Peat moss: the “Bog People” 
 Doing Archaeology
• Locating Sites
– Accident, Controlled Survey, Remote Sensing
• Excavation
– Horizontal, Vertical
• Dating Techniques
– Carbon 14, Dendrochronology
• Artifact Analysis
• Site and Regional Synthesis
 What do archaeologists do?
• Many people have the wrong idea about what
archeologists do.
– But before we learn what they do, lets learn what
they don’t do.
• Archeologists do not study dinosaurs
– that is paleontology.
• Archaeologist do not spend their time digging,
– that’s actually a minor part of the process.
 What do archaeologists do?
• Archaeologists do not just look for pretty or
valuable objects,
– every day, boring items can tell a lot about a person or
group.
• Archaeologists do not buy or sell artifacts;
– professional archeologists consider this unethical.
• Archaeologists do not just study prehistoric
people;
– archeologists study humans 50 years old to 3 million
years old.
 What do archaeologists do?
• Archaeologists do not just look for pretty or
valuable objects
– every day, boring items can tell a lot about a
person or group.
• Archaeologists do not just pick up the artifacts
– They must take notes and make maps so that they
can reconstruct how objects are associated to one
another.
 History of Archaeology
• The first archaeologists
– Antiquarians or wealthy collector of artifacts
• Early Archeology
– It was a combination of several other sciences
concerned with the evolution of humans.
– Danish archaeologist Christian Jurgensen Thomsen opened
the National Museum Of Antiquities in Copenhagen to the
public in 1817
– Darwin published his book ‘Origin of Species’ in 1859.
• Archaeology became a fully fledged scientific
discipline in 1920’s.
 Early American Archaeology
• In the 1890’s the myth of the mound-builders
was proven.
– Many people in the past said that Native
Americans were not smart enough to build these
mounds found all over the Southeastern United
States.
• The mounds are actually very elaborate
burials.
 Early American……….
• Since the time of Columbus, Americans have debated
the origin of American Indians.
– Some archeologists believed the Pueblo Indians of the
Southwest could possibly be the direct descendents of
early Indians.
• So archeologists and other anthropologists studied
living Pueblos to understand;
– how prehistoric natives may have organized socially,
– how they made pottery, and many other things.
 Modern Scientific Archaeology
• Many good changes came about in 1960s;
– The invention of modern scientific excavation
techniques
– Using a multidisciplinary approach to study
people.
– Increasing impact of science on archaeology
– Refinement of archaeological theory.
 Academic Goals of Archeology
• Culture History
– Sequence of events
– How artifacts change over time
– Explain why events happened.
• Life ways Reconstruction
– Technology, subsistence, exchange, settlement,
social organization, ideology, etc.
• Culture Process
– Theoretical models on life ways.
 Applied Goals of Archaeology
• Conveying the past through archaeology.
• The proper way to do archeology.
• Archaeology is a profession.
• Public Education
– Museum exhibits
– Television shows
– Documentary films
– Public lectures, digs, or workshops.
 Types of Archaeology
• Prehistoric Archaeology
– Before writing.
• Historical Archaeology
– Document/writing assisted
• Classical Archaeology
– Greek and Roman
• Biblical Archaeology
• Underwater Archaeology
– Shipwrecks or anything
else under water.
• Industrial Archaeology
– Industrial Revolution and
other modern structures
• Egyptologists, Mayanists,
Assyriologists
– Study of specific civilizations
or time periods.
• Cultural Resource Management
– Management and
assesment of significant
cultural resources.
 Basic Concepts
• Fossils-Studied by Paleoanthropologists.
– Preserved remains of creatures from the past.
– They form when an organism dies, is buried, and over long
periods of time the organic part decays and is replaced by
minerals.
• i.e. bones form stone.
– Fossil localities are where fossils are found.
• Archaeological sites-Studied by Archaeologists.
– Places of past human activity.
• large settlements with ceremonial centers.
• small hunting camps.
 Basic Concepts &Terms
• Artifacts- Objects found and studied by
archaeologists which have been made or modified by
humans.
– Stone tools, bone tools, pottery most common.
• Ecofacts- nonartifactual remains found at
archaeological sites, such as animals bones, shells,
plant remains.
– Generally provide ecological and subsistence information.
• Features- Nonmoveable artifacts such as hearths,
pits or house floors.
– Can reveal information such as settlement and
subsistence.
 Basic Concepts & Context
• An artifacts context is it's specific location where it
was found and how it relates to other artifacts
around it.
– *i.e. A stone arrowhead is found with newspapers and
plastic bottles, what would you conclude about the
arrowheads context?
• So a pot on its own may tell you how it was made or
what it was made from, but if it is removed from its
context archaeologists have no idea what it was
associated with.
Archaeological and Historical sites
of Pakistan
Chowkandi, Karachi Taxilla

Rohtas Fort Makli, Thatta

Mehrgarh Thakht Bahi

Kot Diji Rehman Dehri