Discuss the goals of archaeology.

Archaeology is an English word which originates from Greek word “Archeo” which means “Ancient” and “Logos” which means “study”. Archaeology has been defined by many people in many different ways in the 150 years of the study of the course. Some of difference reflects the history of archaeology and how it has changed over time.

Archaeology is the scientific study of past culture and the way people lived based on the things they left behind. Culture is the shared ways of life learned by group of people including their language, religion, technology and values. (WEBSITE: Bama u.a. edu)

Archaeology is the scientific study of human past of ancient human behaviors from the earliest times right up to the present. As such most archaeology is part of much wider discipline anthropology which studies all aspects of humanity ancient and modern, but archaeologists are unique among scientists that they study changes in human culture over long period of time. (Fagan 2003: 4)

Generally, archaeology is the study of human through cultural remains and other cultural phenomenon. Human culture can be in present and past using cultural phenomenon of the past and present.

Archaeology has got four major types which are artifacts, eco facts, structure and features. Artifacts are portable objects made or modified by human being. Example stone axes, metal objects, broken bones and gold ornaments. Eco facts are archaeological findings of cultural significance that were not manufactured by human these include bones and plants remains. Features are non-portable structure that cannot move from their place without losing original form example house, hearths, storage pits and burials. Structure are any construction remain which were made, used or modified by humans example include houses. (Fagan 2003: 68). All archaeological research has the following goals; -

Constructing culture history, culture history is an approach to archaeology that assumes that artifacts can be used to build up generalized pictures of human culture in time and space and that can be interpreted, culture history is the record of human past described and classified in a context of time and space which describes the past across the changing ancient landscape, in other word it answers the fundamental questions like what happened where and when. Until 1950’s culture history dominated archaeological research, for example during 1930’s teams of archaeologist surveyed major river valley in the Southern United State in advance of dam construction, they found hundreds of archaeological sites which they dated using sequences of stone tools and pottery forms. This classic survey tell us the great deal about what happened in this river valley and when. But they tell little about the ways in which the various river valley society lived or why they become more complex and took up maize agriculture over the past 2000 years. Therefore culture history is the vital first stage of all archaeological research you cannot examine more detail questions until you have a clear idea of what happened in region and when. (Fagan 2003: 63)

Reconstructing past life way of the people responsible for the archaeological remains, such that archaeology is concerned with the clear picture of how people lived and how they exploited their environment. But archaeology seek to understand why they lived that way, why they had those patterns of behavior and how their life ways and material culture come to take them form they did. The word life ways covers many human activities everything from hunting and plant gathering to agriculture, interactions between individuals and groups, social organizations and religious beliefs. In human interaction for example people act out of their lives at many levels as a member of families’ community and culture. They may be divine rules, merchants, artisans, common farmers or slaves (Fagan 2003: 65)

Explaining the culture process, the ultimate goal is to explain why human cultures in all parts of the world reached their various stage of Cultural Revolution. Human tools are seen part of a system of related phenomenon that include both culture and the natural environment. (Fagan 1997: 27). Archaeology is a search for both facts and explanation such research attack fundamental questions after ten thousands of years of hunting and gathering why did people living of a huge areas of a south western Asia change over to agriculture before ten thousands BC? What caused mayor civilization in Meso American Law Land, with its huge cities and powerful lords, to collapse in A.D 900? Therefore an explanation of cultural process requires larger quantities of historical environmental and life way data of culture to be meaningful. (Fagan 2003: 66)

Understanding the Archaeological records, archaeology aims to make people understand sites, artifacts, food remains and other aspects of archaeological records is made up of material things and arrangement of material things and arrangement of material object in the soil, the only way we can understand this record is by knowing something about how the individual finds came into being. For example what were our earliest ancestors like and when did they come in being. How old is human behavior and when did such phenomenon as language involve. (Fagan 1997: 27)

Stewardship is the fundamental responsibility of all archaeologists to issue responsibility of all archaeologists to issue the conservation and survival of the finite archaeological records of artifacts and sites for posterity. In recent years the crisis of looting and destruction that threatens archaeology had made this the most pressing and demanding all archaeologist activities known as Cultural Resources Management (CRM). (Fagan 1997: 25)

Conclusively, archaeology offers a unique perspective on human history and culture that has contributed greatly to our understanding of both the ancient and the recent past. It also helps us understand not only where and when people lived on the earth but also why and how they have lived, examining the changes that have occurred in human culture over time.

 REFERENCES

·       Fagan, B. M. (Ed), (2003). “Archaeology, A Brief Introduction.” University of California, Santa Barbara.

·       Fagan, B. (1997). “In the Beginning” New York Longman.

·       Renfrew, G. & Bahn P. (2012). “Archaeology: Theory and Practice” London. Thames and Hodson.  

·       Website. Bama.u.a.edu.