Archaeology Actually

In my last post I mentioned the importance of context to archaeological research. That is, knowing PRECISELY where an object was found and its relationship to other objects in the archaeological record.  The goal of archaeology is to understand past human behaviour and how that behaviour changes over time. The primary (and in some cases, the only!) source of evidence available to help achieve this goal is the archaeological record, or the material record of that behaviour. So, how do archaeologists get from ruins, pieces of dirty stone and pottery and patterns of dark patches in the soil to an understanding of human behaviour in the past and how this changes over time? This is where context is important!   To recap from the last post - Excavation, the principal method of data acquisition in archaeology, involves the systematic uncovering of archaeological remains through the removal of the deposits of soil and other material covering them and accompanying them. Two ...

The traditional image of archaeology is that of excavation, or digging! An archaeological excavation in progress. Excavation of a commoner’s house at the Aztec city of Calixtlahuaca, Mexico. Source Image here . Indeed, excavation is a key component of archaeological research. It is the principal method of data acquisition in archaeology, involving the systematic uncovering of archaeological remains through the removal of the deposits of soil and the other materials covering them and accompanying them (Renfrew & Bahn 2008: 580). A problem with archaeological excavation, however, is that it comes at a significant cost! To give one example, in my last post I talked about the ancient Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, buried by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in AD 79. An exceptional level of preservation has allowed us some remarkable insights into life in the Roman Empire in the first century AD. However, these insights, as well as the economic benefits derived from touri...

To round off my last post I gave a link to a pretty cool bit of research that was using X-Ray technology to read writing on carbonised scrolls from the Roman town of Herculaneum. Herculaneum, and the better known town of Pompeii, are extraordinary examples of archaeological site preservation - on August 24, AD 79 the eruption of nearby Mt Vesuvius, near the Bay of Naples in Italy, resulted in the burial of these towns, which lay largely preserved by a layer of ash and volcanic pumice for several centuries. The specific date, by the way, is thanks to a written down eyewitness account of the eruption by Pliny the Younger. Pompeii, one of the most frequently visited archaeological sites in the world, is the most extensive excavation of an urban site that has ever been undertaken (Alcock & Cherry 2009). Pompeii, with Mt Vesuvius in the background.  Image sourced here . There have been some absolutely remarkable archaeological finds at these sites - as well as the carbon...

The Amphipolis Tomb In my last post I reported that the results of the analysis of the bones from the tomb at Amphipolis, Greece had been announced. This, predictably, has led to a tidal wave of speculation about the identities of the five individuals. Speculation on this topic will continue for some time, and perhaps there will never be definitive answers. Alas, that is the nature of the beast. I think the following quote sums things up quite nicely actually: "Archaeology is like a jigsaw puzzle, except that you can't cheat and look at the box, and not all the pieces are there." More here . Applying Archaeology to Today's World: Part 2 A couple of posts back I started looking at how the findings of archaeological research might be applied to understanding contemporary issues and problems. Here is another relevant example: a review of an interesting looking book written by Eric H. Cline , a Professor of Classics and Archaeology at The George Washington Un...

The results of the analysis of the bones from the tomb at Amphipolis, Greece, widely regarded as one of the top archaeological discoveries of 2014 , have been announced overnight (NZ time): The bones appear to belong to 5 different people : The persons, whose bones were found inside the Amphipolis Tomb, after the research that was presented today: - One woman, over 60 years old - One man around 35 years old - One man around 45 years old  - One infant (sex not determinable) - One adult (man or woman), cremated For coverage on the BBC News website go here .

Archaeology is the study of the human past. While a better understanding of our past is a pretty interesting and worthwhile objective in its own right, that, sadly, is not necessarily enough on its own to justify funding amongst increasingly heated competition for the research dollar! Are there benefits of archaeology beyond satisfying that universal human trait: curiosity? Curiosity about the origins of our species and the origins of the diversity of human societies. One of the more obvious benefits is generating tourism. Certainly, there are a number of archaeological sites around the world that are huge tourist drawcards, creating significant spinoffs for the local economies:     Clockwise from top left: The Colosseum (Rome); The Great Pyramid and Sphinx at Giza (Egypt); Angkor Wat (Cambodia); and Machu Picchu (Peru) are all significant tourist drawcards for their respective countries. Follow links for image sources.  A less appreciated benefit of archaeol...

An interesting article was brought to my attention today by the Australian Archaeological Association's twitter account (@AustArchaeology). A couple of posts ago I talked about the potential value of oral histories to archaeologists. In the south Pacific there are no written records of history predating European exploration of the region within the last 400 years. However, throughout this region there are oral traditions that predate European contact and that certainly have the potential to inform archaeological investigations.  The piece I was reading today is an intriguing example from Australia, a land with a human presence dating back around 50,000 years. Australian Aboriginal man with Uluru/Ayers Rock in the background. Image sourced from  here . Stories told by groups of indigenous Australians right around the coast of the continent since the earliest colonial times have recalled rises in sea-level and coastal inundation. The following (in italics) is a direct quo...