Archaeology: a definition

Archaeology: ar·chae·ol·o·gy [noun] \ˌär-kē-ˈä-lə-jē\

1: the scientific study of material remains (as fossil relics, artifacts, and monuments) of past human life and activities.1

To properly situate this blog I feel that it is necessary for me, as the moderator of our future discussions, to give a brief definition, or at least my definition, of archaeology. I will say now that the definition I am about to present is two things: 1) very general - there are some amazing syntheses of archaeology's history out there2 which include the full breadth and depth of what archaeology actually is, and the blog is not necessarily the proper format to do this history justice; 2) it is my personal opinion - I am only highlighting what I find to be the key aspects of the field of archaeology will no doubt skip many things that others will find important3.

As we saw in my first post, one of my main agendas with this blog is to properly situate archaeology in the vast mind of the public. This is no mean feat, especially considering that there are a number of fairly popular images of the archaeologist that have been peddled through the media. The most obvious example that all archaeologists have to encounter within their careers is that of Indiana Jones4. At some level we cannot completely say that the image presented is inaccurate. When one puts the archaeology of Indiana Jones (movies 1 and 3 because, lets be honest, it would be better if movies 2 and 4 simply did not exist) into historical context it is actually hard to discern the differences from what was shown in the movies to major archaeological projects that were being conducted during that time. As we will see in a minute and in future posts, one of the main facets of archaeology is the study of things, and for earlier archaeology, these things usually meant large things, such as pyramids, ancient cities, and the like.

Unfortunately, this image of the relic hunting and city finding archaeologists from the 1930’s has not changed much in the mainstream media. Other more modern characters such as Benjamin Gates from National Treasure5, or Flynn Carson from The Librarian: Quest for the Spear6, or even the notorious Lara Croft “Tomb Raider” of both videogame and movie fame7, are not much better, if not worse. There are two things that all of these characters have in common: 1) they are focused on finding very specific artifacts and 2) they really could care less about context.

Trowel

To be very honest, however, if a major motion picture or video game were to come out that were actually based around true archaeology...it would flop....badly. Real archaeology, archaeology that is actually practiced by real archaeologists (both professional and amateur) is a very slow and careful process that involves digging mostly with trowels (see image) and not shovels (but shovels are still used), and everything (and I do mean everything) is recorded. So our first order of business then is to throw out these images of the pot-hunting, careless relic-chasers and to replace it with an honest definition of archaeology.

Let us begin by looking at the dictionary definition of archaeology presented at the beginning of this post. While the above definition is a very bare bones definition of archaeology it does highlight the main aspects that make up the core of what archaeology really is. First and foremost, archaeology is the study of the human past (thus, no dinosaurs) and from the time of it’s inception up until the 1970’s, one of the main methods that archaeologists used to study the past was through what we call “material culture.”

Material culture, for lack of a better word (or not) is essentially stuff. So when archaeologists say material culture, we are talking about all of the stuff that humans have left behind at any time, before today8 (which is where the pot-hunting, relic-chasing myth comes from). Some varied examples of material culture (other than pots and relics) that archaeologists study are stone tools (lithics),9 Spanish trade beads,10  or the various forms of ceramics that have been made all over the globe11, or even (as with our friend Indy) temples, pyramids, and other large structures12.  Since around the 1970’s, however, archaeologists have broadened their scope. We no longer just focus on stuff and we now study everything about the past, from past environments13, past food sources14, and even how humans affected the landscape itself15.

So what does all of this mean? Essentially, the modern archaeologist, historic or prehistoric, new world or old, now studies past human interactions. We study how humans interacted with their environments, interacted with other plant and animal species, interacted with each other, and, of course, how the interacted with all the stuff that they left behind. There is still a large amount of material culture analysis and we are all in our own way quite nerdy (thinking here of Indy, Benjamin, and Flynn here) but no good archaeologist only focuses on one targeted artifact or temple anymore. More and more, archaeologists are combining methods, theories, and evidence from multiple fields to paint a more complete, context-rich, picture of our human past.

Thus, to be a good archaeologist one must become, in some ways, a jack-of-all-trades who is willing use information and methods not just from within archaeology, they must be willing to get a little dirty, spend time in the library, and most importantly NOT get involved with Nazi’s!



Notes:

1 - http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archaeology , accessed February 14, 2013.

2 - the following are in my opinion very good histories of archaeology or archaeological theory as a whole or of certain aspects of archaeology’s history.

Fagan. B. 2006. A History of Archaeology: Classical Times to the Twenty-First Century. Pearson Publishers.

Hegmon, M. 2003. “Setting Theoretical Egos Aside: Issues and Theory in North American Archaeology. American Antiquity 68(2):213-243.

Thomas, DH. 2000. Skull Wars: Kennewick Man, Archaeology, and the Battle for Native American Identity. Basic Books.

Thomas, DH. and Kelly, R. 2006. Archaeology: Down to Earth, 3rd Edition. Cengage Learning.

Trigger, B. 2004. A History of Archaeological Thought, 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press.

3 - every researcher, in every field (even the hard sciences) has their own definitions and ideas for their field and for what their field means to them and to humanity at large. It is always important to be able to both recognize and acknowledge these biases, especially when putting one’s research out into the world.

4 - Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark major motion picture, released in the United States in 1981. Directed by Steven Spielberg and released by Paramount Pictures and Lucasfilm Ltd.

Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade major motion picture, released in the United States in 1989. Directed by Steven Spielberg and released by Paramount Pictures and Lucasfilm Ltd.

5 - National Treasure major motion picture released in the United States in 2004. Directed by Jon Turteltaub and released by Walt Disney Pictures.

6 - The Librarian: Quest for the Spear made for TV movie released in the United States in 2004. Directed by Peter Winther and released by Turner Network Television (TNT).

7 - Lara Croft: Tomb Raider major motion picture released in the United States in 2001. Directed by Simon West and released by Paramount Pictures.

Tomb Raider major market video game released in the United States in 1996. Produced by Core Design.

8 - already I am showing my bias! I have been very specific in my use of a certain definition, namely that archaeology deals with the stuff left behind before today. For the longest time archaeology was “supposed” to be that of our past, with the definition of past being before our lifetime. I, however, subscribe to the notion that our pat starts yesterday. Thus, those that are studying the remains of the lunar lander on the moon, or the left-over debris on Mars are indeed archaeologists study the human past.

9 - Odell, GH editor. 2009. Archaeological Lithic Analysis, Readings from American Antiquity and Latin American Antiquity. Society for American Archaeology Press.

10 -  Blair, E., LS Pendelton, and P Francis Jr. 2009. The Beads of St. Catherines Island. American Museum of Natural History Anthropological Papers, Number 89.

11 - Neff, H. 2005. Ceramics in Archaeology, Readings from American Antiquity and Latin American Antiquity. Society for American Archaeology Press.

12 - Webster, D. 1999. “The Archaeology of Copan, Honduras.” Journal of Archaeological Research 6(4):1-53.

13 - Anderson, DG, KA Maasch, and DH Sandweiss. 2007. Climate Change and Cultural Dynamics: A Global Perspective on Mid-holocene Transitions. Elsevier.

14 - Schroedl GF and T M Ahlman. 2002. “The Maintenance of Cultural and Personal Identities of Enslaved Africans and British Soldiers at the Brimstone Hill Fortress, St. Kitts, West Indies.” Historical Archaeology 36(4):38-49.

Stahl, PW. 2003. “Pre-columbian Andean Animal Domestications at the Edge of Empire.” World Archaeology 34(3):470-483.

15 - Branton, N. 2009. “Landscape Approaches in Historical Archaeology: The Archaeology of Place.” International Handbook of Historical Archaeology, Majewski, T and D Gaimster ed. Springer.