Open Access

Archaeology

Archaeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of the ancient and recent human past through material remains. Archaeologists study the million-year-old fossils of our earliest human ancestors. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts and cultural landscapes. Archaeology or archeology (American English) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. The goal of archaeology is to shed light on long-term human prehistory, history, behaviour and cultural evolution. It is the only discipline which possesses the method and theory for the collection and interpretation of information about the pre-written human past, and can also make a critical contribution to our understanding of documented societies. Other subfields of anthropology supplement the findings of archaeology, especially cultural anthropology (which studies behavioural, symbolic, as well as material dimensions of culture) and physical anthropology (which includes the study of human evolution and osteology). Other disciplines also supplement archaeology, such as paleontology (the study of prehistoric life), including paleozoology and paleobotany, geography, geology, history, art history, and classics.