Archaeology is part of Anthropology

From museums, science magazines, television shows, and even films, most of us have had some exposure to archaeology and have become familiar with some of the world’s most famous archaeological discoveries. Perhaps you chose this course because you are interested in Ancient Egypt, Greece, or Stonehenge. However, have you ever met an archaeologist in person? We commonly deal with many professions we see in the media, such as doctors, lawyers, police officers, firefighters, and teachers, but rarely have personal contact with archaeologists. As a result, we mostly rely on stereotypes portrayed in the media to understand archaeologists and the work they do.

First surprise? Archaeology is much more than digging! It is a sub-discipline of the larger field of anthropology, which is the study of humankind. Anthropology studies all humans, in all times, at all places. We look at the past and present lives of humans, our ancestors, and our closest non-human primate relatives—all in an effort to understand what it means to be human. Anthropology is divided into four more manageable subdisciplines: biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and archaeology.

• Biological anthropology studies humans from a biological perspective. This includes biological variation, primatology (studying primates such as lemurs, monkeys, and apes), human fossils, and evolution.
• Cultural anthropology, in contrast, studies humans from a cultural perspective. Culture is the learned behaviors of a group of people and it includes many, many elements—the languages they speak, the foods they eat, how they build their homes, what they believe, their customs, and more. Cultural anthropology observes and documents these practices and compares the cultures of various groups. Cultural anthropologists collect data and study cultures through participant observation, which involves living with, observing, and asking questions of the people they study.
• Linguistics is a cultural characteristic, and linguistic anthropology examines the linguistic aspects of human cultures in greater detail, including structural linguistics (patterns in sound, structure, and grammar), historical linguistics (how languages change and develop over time), and sociolinguistics (social aspects of language).
• Archaeology also considers aspects of culture and asks similar questions but uses different data. Rather than relying on observations of living participants, archaeology studies the material remains left behind by people. These are the items made, modified, and used by people in the past. They include artifacts, features, ecofacts and sites. We use them to understand cultures of our own and other groups’ ancestors.
• Applied anthropology is sometimes considered the fifth sub-discipline. It involves applying theoretical elements of anthropology to real-world problems. Probably the most famous applied anthropology is forensic anthropology, popularized in television and film. Forensic anthropologists apply the principles and theory of biological anthropology to the identification of human skeletons in the context of crimes. Archaeologists who conduct surveys and excavations in the setting of construction projects are applying the principles and theory of archaeology to this real-world setting and is another variety of applied anthropology.

These sub-disciplines of anthropology are united into one field by a shared interest in humans and use of the scientific method, which is applied in anthropology through fieldwork and a holistic perspective. Together, the scientific method, fieldwork, and a holistic perspective define the anthropological approach.

• The scientific method is a process by which scientists ask questions, collect data, test hypotheses, and gain knowledge about the natural world. Its steps have been described in various ways but consistently address four basic elements: observation, hypotheses, experimentation/data collection, analysis, and conclusions. When applied, these steps are more like a cycle than a straight linear process as hypotheses can be revised after some initial data collection or experimentation, and new ideas and technologies can change the assumptions on which hypotheses were initially based. As we learn more and draw new conclusions, we develop new and different questions.
• Fieldwork is the hallmark of anthropological study and the process by which anthropologists collect data. Fieldwork collects data in “the real world”—with groups of humans and at living and archaeological sites. Some of the data is analyzed in the field as well, while other types are analyzed in laboratories, sometimes years later. Typically, fieldwork in anthropology involves many hours of observation of subjects, which can be a group of people in cultural and linguistic anthropology or a troop of baboons in biological anthropology. In archaeology, fieldwork consists primarily of observing landscapes to identify locations of past human activity to excavate and study.
• Anthropological analysis is built on a holistic perspective, the understanding that all of the various aspects of human biology and culture are necessarily interrelated. For example, humans’ biological makeup and large brains make our complex cultures possible. For anthropologists, the holistic perspective maintains connections between the four sub-disciplines and recognizes that developments in one area affect the questions asked in other areas of anthropology.

This textbook will help you better understand archaeology and how it acquires knowledge about humans based solely on the material culture of the people being studied. You’ll learn how archaeologists do fieldwork and analyze human behaviors and patterns. Additionally, you’ll see how archaeologists use multiple types of data and evidence to draw conclusions about how humans have lived and adapted to the environment.

Archaeology Today

Today, archaeologists:

• Do work that is meaningful and relevant. You’ll see many examples this semester of research that is relevant to modern communities, research that can help us think about climate change and the human response to such changes, research that can help us think about the future of humanity, research that can help us learn how to protect the archaeological record and see it as a human responsibility to do so, etc.
• Protect and preserve the archaeological record whenever possible. In fact, a growing number of archaeologists are asking questions that can be answered using artifacts already stored in museums rather than questions that necessitate the excavation of another site. Additionally, archaeologists have our own set of ethical guidelines (which you’ll learn about soon) and we develop and adhere to a variety of state and federal laws that seek to protect the archaeological record. The laws we follow include NAGPRA, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which you’ll learn more about soon.
• Do not only work for museums and universities. In fact, a growing number of archaeologists in the United States work in Cultural Resource Management (CRM). CRM is archaeology practiced in compliance with numerous federal- and state-specific laws that state that we all must protect the archaeological record. For any construction project that occurs on government lands or that uses federal (and sometimes state) funding, archaeologists must be called in to survey the land to see if there are any significant archaeological resources at the site of construction prior to breaking ground. This means that when highways are expanded, when pipelines are put in, or when reservoirs are being built, archaeologists are called in to assess the land. If they find evidence for significant archaeological remains, they give the construction companies some choices: pay us to excavate the sites before you destroy them, or find another place for your project. Additionally, if significant archaeological resources are found during construction on government lands or in projects using government funding, construction crews must call in archaeologists to help them determine what the next steps should be. CRM enables us all to learn about the past in places where that past would otherwise be destroyed by the present.

Parts of this chapter are shared under a CC BY-NC license and were originally authored, remixed, and/or curated by Amanda Wolcott Paskey and AnnMarie Beasley Cisneros (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI)) .