” Every archaeologist knows in their heart why they dig. We dig, in pity and humility, that the dead may live again, that what is past may not be forever lost, that something may be salvaged from the wreck of ages.”
-Geoffrey Bibby
What is Archaeology?
The base definition of archaeology is the scientific study of material remains of past human life, activity, and their material culture. Archaeological survey or excavations reveal past lives and materials that we then analyze and interpret to better understand the past, the present, and hopefully, the future.
But there’s a lot more to archaeology than this statement lets on.
Archeology: it’s not just digging holes!
Progressive
Excavations expose architecture, artifacts, and more. There is a satisfaction looking back after a season, and seeing how much you were able to accomplish is rewarding. But the progression does not stop there. A thorough analysis of what excavations reveal progresses what we know or what we thought we knew about past peoples and cultures. The more analyses, the more information we have to make credible interpretations.
Progression also applies to our methods of excavation and analysis. As new scientific methods are discovered and refined, we can better collect the appropriate types of data to answer even more questions about the past. The large physical or fancy artifacts were exciting, and often the sole focus of early archaeologists’ attention. Now we know we can acquire just as much information from collecting a wider array of stuff left in the archaeological record. Bones, plant remains, and even soil samples provide a wealth of data that enhances our understanding of the past.
Collaborative
The best archaeology is done when people work together. Archaeologists need to collaborate with each other. No individual can analyze, interpret, and make this interpretation public through publishing on their own. Teams of archaeologists work together to answer questions about the past. The ultimate goal is to arrive at a holistic understanding of why what happened in the past happened.
Collaborative efforts must also include the local communities. Local communities live on and near the sites archaeologists come to work at. The people in these communities usually have a better understanding of the landscape and together archaeologists and locals and expand knowledge together. Archaeologists can support local communities by working with them and sharing their findings in an accessible manner. Communication between these two groups builds bonds between one another and to the land. No one person owns the past, but we can better understand it working together.
Investigative
The first known material culture, that is stone tools, made by potential human ancestors dates back to 3.3 million years ago. The further forward in time, the more archaeological material preserves and is available for study. What were people doing 100,000 years ago? What were people doing 10,000 years ago? How about 5,000 years ago? 300 years ago? Why? What was driving those decisions? Why did they choose to do one thing over another? What were their preferences?
These are just a few of the general questions that guide archaeologists all over the world. In trying to understand these general questions about people of the past, archaeologists choose different focuses, which leads to more specific questions. How did the domestication of animals or staying in one place year-round change human interactions with the landscape? How were conflicts solved between peoples who had different cultural identities? To start to answer these questions and more, archaeologists investigate the diverse materials of the past using a wide array of methods.
Archaeological Sciences
Archaeological sciences are the analytical and methodological tools for collecting and analyzing archaeological data. Excavation is only a small fraction of the work we do to answer questions about the past. Archaeological sciences allow us to explore and better understand past materials and behaviors at the micro and macro scales and everything in between.
Archaeological Materials
Archaeological Materials could be anything used or created by people in the past. This also extends to the landscape humans occupied and are connected with the plants and animals people interact with. People themselves can be archaeological materials, including the variety of information we hold about our lives even after death. Scroll through the slide show to get a glimpse into some of the ways people used various materials in the past.
Wood, like other organics, does not always preserve in the archaeological record. When it does, it is a welcome reminder of the surely extensive material record lost to us. Wooden figurine of Merti with cropped hair, at the MET. 
Visualization of the Neanderthal Genome. From: Pratas, Diogo & Pinho, Armando & Silva, Raquel & Rodrigues, João & Hosseini, Morteza & Caetano, Tania & Ferreira, Paulo. (2018). FALCON: a method to infer metagenomic composition of ancient DNA. 10.1101/267179. Ancient DNA is a rapidly growing field that is allowing scholars to better understand the genetic connections between humans and other close ancestors. More research has shown that some groups of humans have portions of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA. 
Plants preserve in various ways and quantities in the archaeological record. Even if the organic parts don’t preserve, many plants have phytoliths- microscopic silica rocks- that preserve and leave us a record of what plants were originally there. Wheat, just one of the many plants found in the archaeological record. CC0. 
Various natural pigments, such as ochre or indigo, were used for painting in the past. People combined these dry pigments with a binding agent- to make it soluable and adhere what was being painted. West wall of the chapel of Nikauhor and Sekhemhathor. At the MET. 
Animal bones are abundant in the archaeological record. They can elucidate human-animal relationships. Sheep vertebrae from Ur exavations, Iraq. 
Hominin bones are essential for understanding our physical evolution. The earliest preserved bones are now fossilized- turned to stone- but in the best cases the structure of the original bone is retained. More modern remains can help us better understand human variability, disease, pathologies, and demographies. Neanderthal bones and stone tools from Shanidar Cave. At Baghdad Museum. 
The world’s first writing system, preserved on clay in large enough quantities that scholars have deciphered much of the Akkadian language. Clay tablet with cuneiform writing, From Ur. Now in Baghdad Museum. 
This headdress combines worked gold and various stone beads, the original string was likely plant fiber or animal hair. Intricate jewelry like this was likely restricted to a small portion of the population, and many of the materials would have needed to be imported and worked by skilled craftsmen. from Ur, Iraq; currently in the MET. 
Ivory was widely used in the past, quickly becoming a status symbol as large ‘civilizations’ such as Egypt and Mesopotamia grew. Ivory can come from several animals- elephants, hippos, pigs, walruses, or even dugongs. Carvings like this were popular 
Musical instruments are present varying quantities in the archaeological record. Bird bones were commonly used for single horn instruments because they are naturally hollow. Bone trumpet from the Yotoco period, Malagana, Colombia, at the MET. 
Pottery is one of the most common finds in large urban centers. Clay pot from Ur excavations, Iraq. 
Stone tools are the earliest known artifact in the archaeological record. Stone tools are made for hundreds of thousands of years, and come in a variety of rocks, shapes, and types. A flake stone tool. Ur excavation, Iraq. 
Metals of various kinds were utilized by past peoples, before smelting technology, softer metals could be hammered into various shapes. Broken bronze, possibly a bracelet. Ur excavations, Iraq. 
Stone was also used to make jewelry for personal adornment. Worked Carnelian beads from Ur excavations, Iraq. 
Clay bowl with bitumen- ancient cement- stuck to the inside. Ur excavations, Iraq. 
Organics typically only preserve in extreme conditions. Organics include textiles, fibers, and animal skins. Preserved reed matting attached to ancient cement. Ur excavation, Iraq. 
A sampling of naturally occurring pigments that were available for past peoples to use for paint or makeup. From warinnergroup.com
Collection Methods
During archaeological excavation, archaeologists use a variety of methods to collect past materials for analysis. Five methods depicted below are just a few of a wide array of ways archaeological collection during excavation.
Post Processing and Analysis
In University or other more traditional labs, archaeologists have more high-powered equipment to perform in-depth analysis of materials. Check out the slide show to see some of these lab analyses and lab work.
Dalyn Grindle samples fish bones for aDNA analysis to understand genetic relatedness between ancient fish from archaeological contexts and modern fish. Photo from Dalyn Grindle. 
Picture of how to sample a Camelid tooth to study stable isotopes- Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen- which can tell us about the animal’s mobility and diet. Sampling the entire height of the tooth allows for studying these features throughout the animal’s lifetime. Dufour, Elise & Goepfert, Nicolas & Leon, Belkys & Chauchat, Claude & Jordán, Régulo & Sánchez, Segundo. (2014). Pastoralism in Northern Peru during Pre-Hispanic Times: Insights from the Mochica Period (100–800 AD) Based on Stable Isotopic Analysis of Domestic Camelids. PloS one. 9. e87559. 10.1371/journal.pone.0087559. CC 4.0. 
Ester Oras sampling enamel and dental calculus of an Egyptian mummy’s teeth to understand their diet, mobility, and health. Ester Oras / Mait Metspalu / CC BY 4.0. 
Close up of researcher pipetting samples for ancient DNA extraction. Pipetting samples is also used for Zooarchaeological Mass Spectrometry which allows for identification of different animals from fragmentary samples. christinawarinner.com 
Close up view of sampling dental plague from a human tooth. The plaque is carefully scraped into a solution for demineralization for DNA extraction. See christinawarinner.com for more information. 
Researchers extracting ancient DNA samples from archaeological remains. The extra protective gear is to prevent cross-contamination of the delicate samples. See christinawarinner.com for more. 
A close up look of dental calculus and dentin samples in their chemical solutions that allow for demineralization to take place. For more information see christinawarinner.com 
Did you know you can find out the age of trees by counting its rings? It’s called Dendrochronology. 
Archaeologists can examine cutmarks on bones to assess different types of butchery patterns. Pictured is a sheep humerus with numerous cuts on the distal end. 
A microscopic view of plant phytoliths still articulated from a micromorphological sample to see the smaller layers of an archaeological context. 
Micromorphological thin section showing two distinct layers of sediment deposition. Thin sections are created by taking a vertical bulk sample from an archaeological profile. This sample is solidified with resin, then sliced into very thin sections to be viewed through a microscope. Micromorphology can help us understand site formation, as well as site use.
Interested in more avenues? Check out these some of these archaeological science methods and techniques.
- Radiocarbon dating
- Potassium-Argon dating
- Thermoluminescence dating
- Dendrochronology
- Archaeobotanical analysis
- Scanning electron microscopy
- Stable Isotope analysis- Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Strontium, Lead
- X-ray fluorescence
- Ceramic Petrography
- micromorphology
- aDNA
- Neutron activation analysis
- Lithic analysis
- Zooarchaeological analysis
- Geomorphometrics
- Osteoarcheological analysis
- Magnetometry and Geophysical survey
- Remote sensing
- LIDAR
Publishing
Archaeologists need to publish their findings and their interpretations. Sometimes this is a long process because of limited time and availability to analytical tools. Sharing results can help change the way we all think about the past. It can also spur conversations or debates about how to interpret the past that also helps push our understanding forward.
Some books to start with
Other Resources
The African American Diaspora Network
oceanriverseabrook 