ARCHAEOLOGIST: What do they do?

They discover, record, preserve, describe and analyze material remains in order to reconstruct past human activities. They build theories and apply scientific techniques and theoretical concepts in studying the material of culture. (Renfrew and Bahn, 1991). There are various types of archaeologists: Prehistoric- study of human history before written records Historical- use archaeology to complement documented history Classical- study ancient Greece and Rome Pseudo- studies extravagant theories

Aims: 1. Describe and classify physical evidence, so that the chronological and geographical distribution of ancient societies could be discovered. 2. Determine the purpose of the artifact through analysis and configuration of its relationship with other found artifacts. 3. To process how and why changes occurred in the past. 4. To understand the meaning of past societies within the periods cultural context and its relationship with the present. Methodology: Archaeologists deal with three types of data: artifacts (portable objects whose form is modified or wholly created by human activity, ie clay pots) , features (nonportable human-made remains that cannot be removed from their place of discovery without altering or destroying their original form, ie trash heaps that have grown through simple accumulation or pyramids), ecofacts (indirect product of past human activity ) (Fagan, 1994) Archaeologists use sites to find these three basic data. They use two forms of reasoning: o Inductive- creates generalization from specific observations o Deductive- starts with a generalization and then studies the specific implications from it Archaeological research begins with creating a highly specific research designs that could still be altered as the field research proceeds The research project is formulated to fit with the problem and the geographic area involved. (Fagan, 1994)

A field team is then assembled, and the members acquire data by reconnaissance, site survey, and excavation. The hypotheses which were part of the research design are then tested Results are published

Sources: Brian M. Fagan, In the Beginning: An Introduction To Archaeology, Eighth Edition, The Lindbriar Corporation (1994) Wendy Ashmore, Robert J. Sharer, Discovering Our Past: A Brief Introduction To Archaeology, Fifth Edition, McGraw-Hill (2010)