Discovering the past to understand the present

There are various ways of learning about past human cultures. For example, using old written documents which can be found in archives is the way of History. Or again, recovering oral accounts from old persons who share information on past events is the way of Oral Tradition. But when no words are available, either written or spoken, investigation must rely on physical evidence left behind by past civilisations. This is Archaeology.

Without archaeology , very little of the past human experience would be known, because the lengthiest period of human existence took place before the invention of writing. Human origins date back to around 4 million years ago and the modern human being is only approximatively 100,000 years old. The first advent of writing appears around 5000 years ago. Even after that, very little information was written down compared to modern times. Archaeology permits us to travel back in time, well before any oral transmission and well before the advent of writing.

Data recovery in archaeology is done during excavations at archaeological sites. This fieldwork is the function most people are familiar with. But it is only a small portion of the work. Archaeologists prepare themselves well before they dig by elaborating research projects, studying landscapes and locating the sites.When the excavation is over, the work continues with the classification and analysis of all the data recovered and finally, the interpretation of the past. The workplace of archaeologists is not only outside, digging, but also in laboratories, in libraries and of course, in front of computers.

In most cases, the material remains of past human societies are found underground. This is why archaeologists have to dig to uncover clues about that past. But archaeologists are far from being only collectors of objects, otherwise called artefacts. They are above all scientists who study the human past. They are trained to use proper methods before, during, and after a dig in order to reach as great an understanding as possible of long gone cultures and societies. Archaeologists can be seen as anthropologists of the past.