INTRODUCING

ARCHAEOLOGY

What is archaeology? Why does it matter?

How do you study human history and past cultures when there is nothing yet written about them in the history books? By digging up the past. Archaeology is the study of any materials made by humans and what they can tell us about how humans lived in the past. This can include ancient tools made out of stone, or modern equipment that has been discarded. Sometimes archaeologists find the materials they study by digging down into old layers of dirt in places where we know human civilizations used to be. But archaeologists can also study the more recent past by looking at what has been left behind. One example of this is the modern study of immigration of humans from Mexico into the U.S. by looking at what kind of objects can be found along the path migrants walk between countries. Scientists might look at what migrants pack into abandoned backpacks and what kinds of shoes are discarded along the way to better understand this journey and what it is like for the people who embark upon it. But archaeologists can also dig deep into past cultures by unearthing tools used by humans thousands of years ago.

When archaeologists uncover tools and other materials from the past, looking at what they are made of, how old they are, and what they might have been used for can tell these scientists a lot about what life was like for humans during those time and what kinds of plants and animals might have been around to eat, for example. This process often involves three stages: survey, in which the scientists decide where to look for materials, excavation, in which the scientists carefully dig up old artifacts, and analysis, in which the scientists use modern methods to date the materials found and determine what they were used for. Altogether, these scientific methods of archaeology allow us to better understand ourselves and our collective past so that we can write it into history books for future generations.