10 Facts About Real Archaeology
Truths and misconceptions about a scientific discipline you should know
“What’s the best thing you’ve found?” — A question an archaeologist frequently is asked by strangers
Many people are interested in our past, our cultural heritage, or simply like the idea of treasure hunting, experiencing adventures in exotic environments, or solving ancient mysteries. But: Public opinion about archaeology and archaeologists is distorted. Here are 10 facts that show what it’s really like to be an archaeologist.
№1
To put it simply, archaeology is about material culture. Everything humans have produced, modified — and later have dropped, forgotten, or that otherwise is preserved till the present day.
№2
That means it’s not just about “objects” — pottery, tools, weaponry, and so on. Most important is the exact documentation of the findspot. For example, while on excavation you find an object in a grave. To assemble the greatest amount of data it is important to also know everything about the structure of the grave it came from — with the greatest possible accuracy. If the grave is just a simple hole in the ground, an archaeologist still can spend days measuring, drawing, or taking photos.
№3
Archaeology is not about dinosaurs or anything not related to humans. Since dinosaurs roamed the earth many million years before mankind just started to develop, it is obvious that there is no connection at all. Dinosaurs or other extinct animals are studied by palaeontologists.
№4
It’s a science, just like physics, Medicine, or biology. Therefore archaeologists always should rely on facts, not on suppositions and speculations. Do not just claim. Do not believe. Prove it. Or at least make it plausible.
№5
It’s closely related but different from the academic discipline History which focuses mainly on written documents as historical sources. Archaeologists and historians usually work closely together and often use each other’s sources, though (archaeology also is tremendously interdisciplinary and uses methods from many disciplines, including natural sciences.
№6
Archaeology is complex, therefore strictly speaking no one is just an “archaeologist”. Everyone who studies archaeology sooner or later will specialize in a sub-discipline: Classical Archaeology, Egyptology, Near Eastern Archaeology, Pre- and Protohistory, Archaeology of the Roman Provinces, Medieval Archaeology, Post-Medieval Archaeology and so on. As you see, there is a sub-discipline for every epoch. Furthermore, an archaeologist can specialize in a certain field of study: For example, there is Settlement Archaeology, Biblical Archaeology, Geoarchaeology, Underwater Archaeology, Industrial Archaeology. No one can know everything about all those complex topics, so no “archaeologist” can cover them all.
№7
Indiana Jones is a bad role model. He does everything real archaeologists do fear: In the name of science, he collects objects that are indigenous people’s properties. According to our standards, this is immoral and illegal. Though he fights evil occultists — and most of all Nazis — , he does not grant those indigenous people their rights and therefore acts racist. His character is a child of 19th-century colonialism. Furthermore, in terms of methodology, he is at the level of the 19th century. He does not care about the documentation of findspots, which is certainly due to the movie script (it would be boring to watch him doing real archaeologists fieldwork).
№8
Real archaeologists normally are not at all comparable with Indiana Jones, nor are they nerds, sitting alone in their chambers reading books all day. Most of the time, it’s a pretty normal job. Of course, many archaeologists have many days out, if they have fieldwork to do. But other archaeologists seldomly or never dig. They work at museums, at universities, or simply as authors. In the end, most of us spend the majority of our time in front of our computers organizing all sorts of things.
№9
Prehistory, the ages before writing was invented, makes up more than 99 % of humanity’s past. Our cultural heritage from this immense period, maybe 2–3 million years, can only be explored by archaeologists. Without their primary source material, written documents, historians have no access to it.
№10
“History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.” — unknown
The same is true for pre- and protohistory. For historical periods, for example Greek and Roman History up to modern times, archaeology is an indispensable partner, working together with many neighboring disciplines to learn about our past.
Archaeology matters. And sometimes it’s even cool.
P.S.: What does archeology mean to you? Let me know!
