Introduction to Archaeology
Introduction to Archaeology
Lecture 1
Archaeology is the study of the past of human kind, using material remains and conducted in a systematic manner.
These material remains include:
• Potsherds (shards of pottery) along with their shape, design, material of construction
• Funerary system
• Clothes
• Jewelry
And all such physical evidence of the existence of a culture or civilization.
In short it is the process of Reconstructing Ancient History.
The methodology of archaeology includes several processes which are used to construct history through excavation, study of artefacts and surveys of areas of historical interest.
• Archaeological surveys: Searching for sites of interest, visiting those sites, asking local residents about generally known history, photo and video documentation, mapping and contouring of the area and general geographical data related to the site
• Archaeological Excavation: This is the systematic digging of sites of interest and cataloging of all artefacts found there using specific detailed procedures such as tagging, bagging, listing etc. a process in which every minute detail of every found object is recorded e.g a broken pot has a base, rim, and other pieces all of which when found are tagged as belonging to a specific section and the design details on them as well. There is a separate classification and detailing of each part of any found object as defined by certain ground rules and scientific methods.
Photo and video documentation is also a massive part of archaeology as these tools are greatly utilized to document and catalog various archaeological finds, along with details of their design, material etc. all of which is written with the corresponding images as well.
Using these methods, we can identify and deal with the problems that history presents us with as archaeology allows us to scientifically study history in a fact based manner.
There are many branches
Lecture 1
Archaeology is the study of the past of human kind, using material remains and conducted in a systematic manner.
These material remains include:
• Potsherds (shards of pottery) along with their shape, design, material of construction
• Funerary system
• Clothes
• Jewelry
And all such physical evidence of the existence of a culture or civilization.
In short it is the process of Reconstructing Ancient History.
The methodology of archaeology includes several processes which are used to construct history through excavation, study of artefacts and surveys of areas of historical interest.
• Archaeological surveys: Searching for sites of interest, visiting those sites, asking local residents about generally known history, photo and video documentation, mapping and contouring of the area and general geographical data related to the site
• Archaeological Excavation: This is the systematic digging of sites of interest and cataloging of all artefacts found there using specific detailed procedures such as tagging, bagging, listing etc. a process in which every minute detail of every found object is recorded e.g a broken pot has a base, rim, and other pieces all of which when found are tagged as belonging to a specific section and the design details on them as well. There is a separate classification and detailing of each part of any found object as defined by certain ground rules and scientific methods.
Photo and video documentation is also a massive part of archaeology as these tools are greatly utilized to document and catalog various archaeological finds, along with details of their design, material etc. all of which is written with the corresponding images as well.
Using these methods, we can identify and deal with the problems that history presents us with as archaeology allows us to scientifically study history in a fact based manner.
There are many branches