2.4 Archaeology and Anthropology
Archaeology and anthropology are sibling subjects, sharing numerous close similarities while also operating subtly and notably differently. This brief lesson will underscore how the disciplines differ and what that means for students.
Archaeology and Its Closest Relative
The first thing to note is that the divide between archaeology and anthropology is plastic and variable. In the Americas archaeology is generally considered a subdiscipline within anthropology. There is a fair amount of (usually) friendly disagreement in European circles about how close archaeology and anthropology are – with British archaeologists often uncomfortable at the prospect of being considered anthropologists. So how do these disciplines differ, and why can they also be considered part of the same?
Archaeology is a subject focusing on the past and, ultimately, past societies. Archaeology is replete with methods to uncover small windows into these societies using the physical remains of the past. Lithic analysis to understand prehistoric technology and hunting, isotope analysis to investigate diet and mobility, skeletal analysis to investigate health and disease. All of these methods are specialised and tend to be applied to answer direct and specific questions. These questions can then be applied to the wider picture of the past to interpret how societies developed and behaved.
Anthropology is a subject focusing on the past and present and, ultimately, past and present societies. Anthropological methods tend to employ linguistic, sociological, interview based, and ethnographic. These can provide deeper understanding of modern and past societies by investigating how communities develop and interact – considering the similarities, differences, and trends in people around the world. These discoveries are used to better understand cultures around the world and can be employed to directly benefit and support indigenous communities – among the most vulnerable people in the world.
It is perhaps easy to see why archaeology can be considered a subset of anthropology. The broader focus that anthropology holds means that the definition of archaeology can fit within it, and effectively function as another tool through which anthropology investigates past and modern societies. The sheer depth of archaeology also helps explain why some schools of thought place the disciplines as separate. Archaeology is such a direct way of understanding the past, with such a multitude of methods and specialisms under its banner that the archaeology departments at many universities are significantly larger than their anthropological counterparts, replete with laboratories and equipment that are used to investigate huge bodies of material remains.
Ultimately in Britain these two subjects are similar, closely related, and often collaborate closely. Anthropology often leans towards understanding present societies and cultures, using more observational and interview based methods while investigating the breadth of human development. Archaeology is more focused on past societies and cultures, using more direct methods investigating physical remains and often focusing on specific time periods and windows in great depth before broadening out. In much of the rest of the world, however, that broadening out from an archaeological perspective effectively just places it within the bounds of anthropology.