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Archaeology

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THE TECHNICAL definitions of archaeology inform us that it is the study of the material remains of man's past, that its ultimate aim is the reconstruction of bygone cultures, and that it deals in large measure with artifacts-those things made by man that have survived. These definitions convey little of the glamor with which the average reader invests the subject. Instinctively he thinks in terms of fabulous hoards of buried treasure, but such a view is highly over- simplified. It is comparable to a history of medicine which mentions only a Harvey, a Pasteur, and a Fleming. It takes no account of the thousands of archaeologists who, although they have made no sensational finds, have contributed in varying degrees to the complex structure of modern archae- ology. Nor does it recognize the array of knowledge and sheer accumulation of fact with which the modern archae- ologist must cope. Depending on his specialty, he must know a little or a great deal about ancient coinage, the manufac- ture of pottery, varve deposition, carbon 14 dating, pollen analysis, tree rings, trade routes, the measurement of skulls, and dozens of other subjects drawn from anthropology, geology, biology, nuclear physics, chemistry, and even as- tronomy (see Jotham Johnson's article on the decipherment of the horoscope of a child born about 10 P.M., July 3rd, 176 A.D.).

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Detail Information

Series Title

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Call Number

913.031 Arc

Publisher

New York : United States of America., 1963

Collation

xiii, 367 pages

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

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Classification

913.031

Content Type

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Media Type

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Edition

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Subject(s)

Archaeology

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

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