What is Archaeology?

Typically, the word “archaeology” conjures up visions of Indiana Jones, Laura Croft, and Nathan Drake (of the poplar Uncharted video game series). People see dinosaurs and buried treasure, tombs and lost tribes. Those were the very images that captured my imagination and thrust me on the path to become an archaeologist, which begs the question: do those things really describe my job? Well, I’m sorry to say that I don’t strap on a whip and a pistol to find some lost idol, punching Nazis along the way. The reality of archaeology is far more interesting and complicated than any movie or game can possibly demonstrate.

Archaeology is first and foremost a part of anthropology, the study of people. And let me be clear on this one: We do NOT dig up dinosaur bones. The word “archaeology” literally means the study of the old or ancient (i.e. the past). Archaeologists can track the changes cultures make through time in a way that no one else can. Through archaeology, we can study things like colonialism or the effects of large scale events and the populations that lived through them. Things like famines, battles, tsunamis, etc. caused some pretty significant changes back in the day. This was before writing things down even was a thing. (History used to be passed down orally, story by story.) Archaeologists can surmise what happened based on items those people left behind. These things were often thrown away and seen as useless by people that resided there. Because we basically dig through trash, the odds of finding buried treasure are basically slim to none. But you know what they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right? Plus, we do occasionally find some cool stuff, like pipes, bottles, and even worked points

For archaeology occurring within the United States, there are two main kinds of archaeologists. First, there are prehistoric archaeologists. These folks work with the remains of cultures that existed before and during European contact. They focus, as you might guess, on Native American groups and how they lived, fought, and changed to adapt to the world around them. Then there are historical archaeologists (aka the cool kids), like me. We focus on everything that happened after Europeans built settlements in North America. That encompasses colonization, the revolution, civil war, and even sites recent as the 1960’s (hippies, man…). Historical archaeologists even attempt to learn how sites might look in the future by excavating active landfills.

As you can see, we don’t actually run through tombs with golden idols, but we CAN change how people view history and possibly influence the future! This is just the tip of the iceberg. Archaeology is a complicated science with many facets and research interests beyond what I have briefly covered. Archaeology is an exciting subject and if you want to learn more, stay tuned. I will be posting these once a month for the next 12 months. Thanks for reading!