Archaeology Study In Human History

Archaeology studies all our human history interpreted through the objects left behind within the past. Most of our human history has been without written language and archaeology looks at other objects made to discover how life was like for past peoples. There are many facets to archaeology and countless variables that must be considered when interpreting some artifacts use or meaning. This means that archaeology isn’t what people see as some dusty old objects but instead an active field within the sciences that contributes to our understanding of the humanities. Without archaeology, our understanding of the past and therefore our predictions for our future would forever be lacking. To start off an essential to archaeology is the ability …show more content…
Within another lecture, we learned how animal bones found at sites can tell us more than just what animals they ate. Using the amount of animal bones found at the site, archaeologists can begin to calculate the minimum number of individual animals found and convert that number into the number of people living their based on the amount of animal meat needed per individual. Sex and age can be determined so that we can figure the demographics of those hunted and using actual bone type count, archaeologists can conclude what type of meat the hunters were after and therefore what staples they did and didn’t have in their diet. Biology leads us into the study of human diet and therefore health of these individuals without archaeologists ever studying the body of one of these prehistoric peoples. It goes to show that noninvasive ways of studying the past human condition does …show more content…
Since most of what archaeologists’ study had no written language or living peoples, inferring how these people communicated other than speech uses the archaeological record. In both our chapter within the text and in lecture, we learned how using the archaeological record can look into the minds of these past peoples. While we can never be sure of what these past peoples thought, through meticulous collection and experimentation, archeologists can come to conclusions on what they may have thought. While spoken language is important to human communication, nonverbal cues have been proven to provide a significant message. Ways nonverbal communication is found within the archeological record is through body art and adornment, and artwork/ drawings. These both communicate messages, though body art and adornment is normally a closer transmission distance than artwork. Many cultures use body jewelry and modifications to demonstrate marriage status, maturity, or deaths of loved ones. In one instance a woman would shave part of her hair in order to show that she was in mourning for her late husband. In addition to close communication artwork, specifically rock art, has the potential to provide communication when the sender is not present. An example of this is rock drawings of huge figures hold heads on a path leading up a path. This has been interpreted as a sign warning travelers to avoid