2.1 Understanding the Past and Present

This lesson will outline the core aspects of archaeology, and the fundamentals of what the field involves and aims to do. This includes how we investigate the past and what these discoveries mean for us today.

What is Archaeology?

Archaeology is an extremely broad field, employing an array of techniques and methods for an enormous variety of purposes. At its core, however, archaeology is concerned with the study of the human past. This includes not only us, Homo sapiens, but also other hominins, our precursors and the close relatives that lived alongside them. This pushes back the archaeological timeline to at least as early as 3.3 million years ago - the earliest evidence of tool use we have (for now).

As a result, archaeological study encompasses both the enormity of how early societies, countries, and civilisations operated, and the minutiae of day to day life within them. Analysing ancient DNAGenetic material extracted from archaeological or historical remains, used to study the genetics of past populations and species., osteologyThe scientific study of bones, particularly human remains, used to learn about age, health, trauma, and lifestyle in past populations., material culture, contemporary texts, past environments, and architecture are examples of the myriad investigative methods we employ - and are still just the tip of the iceberg.