Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (40 page)

Literally, ‘the study of ancient things’; the term archaeology has developed and grown to embrace a much wider set of meanings through common usage as the discipline itself has expanded and matured. Walter Taylor writing in 1948 was confidently able to assert that: ‘Archaeology is neither history nor anthropology. As an autonomous discipline, it consists of a method and a set of specialized techniques for the gathering or “production” of cultural information.’
Operationally, archaeology has come to mean the study of past human societies and their environments through the systematic recovery and analysis of material culture or physical remains. The primary aims of the discipline are thus: to recover, record, analyse, and classify archaeological material; to describe and interpret the patterns of human behaviours that led to its creation; and to explain or develop an understanding of the reasons for this behaviour. In Europe and the Old World archaeology has tended to focus on the material remains themselves (sites and monuments), the techniques of recovering material, and theoretical and philosophical underpinnings inherent to achieving its goals. In the New World attention is directed more towards the subject matter and past human societies, and as such is considered one of the four fields of
ANTHROPOLOGY
. In both traditions, the attainment of a broadly based archaeology involves multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary endeavour, and it can fairly be said that the discipline of archaeology is a broad church embracing an increasingly large number of different subdiscipline areas or branches.
Originally, archaeology was a descriptive science, documenting, defining, and classifying everything it came across and mainly concerned with the material itself. This developed into an explanatory discipline where interest focused on understanding the causes behind the patterns and the reasons for what could be observed with a consequent obsession with the processes and the methodology whether at the practical level or the theoretical level. Increasingly, attention is being directed to what archaeologists actually produce, the end result of their labours, with an inevitable swing towards concerns over the nature of discourse and the production of knowledge.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

A method of determining absolute dates for certain kinds of archaeological materials, particularly in-situ hearths, kilns, and furnaces. The method works because the materials used to construct these facilities contain fine particles of iron-rich elements such as haematite. When these materials are heated above about 650°C (the Curie point) all previous alignments in the magnetic particles are destroyed, and as the material cools the particles realign themselves on the Earth's natural magnetic field. Since the prevailing magnetic field moves over the course of time, local and regional sequences in the pattern of magnetic declination, dip, and intensity can be established and in-situ remains related to it to show when the last major episode of heating took place. The technique is very sensitive and can sometimes be used to show the time lapse between the inner and outer walls of a long-lived kiln or furnace. Compare
PALEOMAGNETIC DATING
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

The application of techniques and procedures from the hard sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, etc.) and engineering to archaeological questions and problems.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

A branch of archaeology focused around the recovery and analysis of animal remains in order to examine their physiology and ecology in relation to cultural activities and contribute to an understanding of animals in society. Major themes of investigation include animal domestication, exploitation and use patterns, butchery practices, and dietary contributions.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

1
In America, this term refers in a generic sense to a simple hunter-gatherer lifestyle involving small bands of people pursuing a pattern of seasonal movements linked to the migrations and periodic abundance of animal and plant foods.
2
Of ancient or early form. The term ‘archaic period’ is often used to describe the early phases in the development of a civilization.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search