Archaeology: The Culmination of Art, Science, Mathematics, and Human History

Archaeology

Archaeology is an important study for the reason that this specific subject has to do with everything about us humans. It is the study of humans and our prehistoric beginning through the excavation of geographical sites, analysis, artifacts and other physical remains. The findings man has discovered astonishes people on how dramatic the evolution of us humans can be. The study requires a bit of a mix between art, science, mathematics, geography and some medicine. The main points that will be discussed below will consist of the history, purpose and methods that are used in the subject that helps it achieve what it is.

Before archaeology got its current name, the study used to be called antiquarian , according to Wikipedia. However, now the meanings of both of these studies differ. Archaeology was systematically created in the early 15th century, around ancient Rome and was founded by an Italian Renaissance humanist, Flavio Biondo. The first site to undergo archaeological excavation was in England-- Stonehenge and other monuments surrounding. Although Biondo created the main concept of the study, William Cunnington , was the one to actually go through the excavations and base his facts off his founding remains. Archaeology's main achievement in its subject is the development of stratigraphy in the 19th century .

Since archaeology is the study of the past (to say the least), it has an important purpose for us now. To know how evolution has came about and knowledge of our ancestors helps us understand our humans now. Archaeologists take the time to find our ancestors' remains, artifacts, and many other objects to help us understand how us humans have come about. "What is Archaeology?" by Andrea Vianello specifies that after archaeologists gather all their findings, they then try to figure out behavioral aspects and apply scientific methods in excavation to reconstruct past life and understand it as accurately as archaeologists can. Society to this day has to be a main concern because we the people, need to know about ourselves and be educated on how we revolutionized from our ancestors' families, behaviors, ways of survival, health and much more. "Archaeology wants to be a bridge with the past, not only an academic science that tries to explain the ancient remains we find today."

As every subject has its own methods to conclude what it conveys, archaeology has interesting ones. Oral history , archival research and historical research techniques are some main strategies to collect data according to Society for American Archaeology (Smith et.al). Since archaeology is studying the past, study methods contribute a huge part in gathering accurate information. Going in the field and looking for past remains are a big help as well. The steps archaeologist follow for collecting the information is first-- techniques (how and what they will use to begin the research). Second-- Get in the field and hypothesize what it could be. Third-- data recovery such as excavating entire sites, making sure they are not leaving additional information behind and lastly-- getting into the lab and finding out how old it is, analyzing the artifacts, features and anything else so they can hypothesize what it could accurately be predicted to being. These concepts of research help archaeology become what it portrays and it is interesting to observe.