He or she studies the development of humans and societies from their beginnings
thousands of years ago to the present. That study is done by searching
for evidence of human life all over the world in objects and remains of
people. All of what we know of the development of humanity and society
is learned from the evidence discovered by archaeologists and the related
field of anthropology.
Indeed, related to the field of archaeology are anthropology, the science of human beings and human life in all of its forms, and geology, the study of the earth. From evidence found by archaeologists, anthropologists can determine the level of civilization of the humans that the archaeologists have discovered and from geologists can be determined the age of the society.
One of the most famous archaeologists of all time was an untrained amateur. His name was Heinriich Schliemann and he discovered the sight of the ancient city of Troy. However, there are few self trained archaeologists today, just as there are no adventurous archaeologists like Indiana Jones. Archaeology requires study in college
and
university with field work on archaeological digs, which are sites where
evidence of people from the past is found.
THE DIG
Earl was dirty but smiling. He held in his hand a bone that Dr. Alton said was a human bone. It was his first discovery. Earl had joined the dig as a volunteer. The old graveyard was from before the Revolutionary War. It was lost many years ago but was found when construction began on an office building. Archaeologists studied the remains that were found and discovered that the graveyard
was a burial ground for free black people more than two hundred years ago.
However, the construction had a schedule and it permitted only a brief time for the scientists to dig and examine the site. A portion of the site would be protected but a small portion would be covered by the new building. Therefore, it was necessary to find what remains could be located in the portion that was to be covered as quickly as possible. The archaeologists asked for volunteers at Earl’s school and he joined them. Earl loved history and wanted to learn what he could about his ancestors. Though his own family came from the South, he wanted to know about black people in New York before the United States was created. He was learning from Dr. Alton who gave lectures to the volunteers so that they would understand what they were doing and how important the work was to the understanding of American history.
Earl was the first volunteer to find a bone. Most of the digging was done by archaeology students from the University but he saw an odd shape sticking out of the ground and called it to a student’s attention. The student pointed it out to Dr. Alton who congratulated Earl.
When Earl told his parents that evening, they were proud. He was sure what his life’s work would be after that.
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