archaeo-, archeo-, archae-, arche-, archa-, archi-, -arch

A systematic method of attempting to locate, identify, and record the distribution of archaeological sites on the ground by looking at the various area contrasts in geography and environment.

The surviving physical remains of past human activities, which are sought, recovered, analyzed, preserved, and described by archaeologists in an attempt to reconstruct the past.

The act or process of obtaining artifacts from a site for the purpose of deriving archaeological data.

A method of placing a group of similar objects into a chronological sequence, taking into account stylistic changes that occurred over time.

Any concentration of artifacts, ecofacts, features, and structures manufactured or modified by humans.

The methods used to examine an area to determine if archaeological deposits are present.

Any theoretical concept used to assess the framework and meaning of the remains of past human activity.

Such a theory is used to guide a reconstruction and an interpretation of the past by looking beyond the facts and artifacts for explanations of prehistoric events.

An arbitrary classification unit set up by an archaeologist to separate one grouping of artifacts from another in space and time.

The scientific study and reconstruction of the human past through the systematic recovery of the physical remains of man's life and cultures.

Artifacts, structures, settlements, materials, and features of prehistoric or ancient peoples are surveyed and/or excavated to uncover history in times before written records.

Archaeology also supplements the study of recorded history. From the end of the 18th century onwards, archaeology has come to mean the branch of learning which studies the material remains of mankind's past. Its scope is, therefore, enormous, ranging from the first stone tools made and fashioned by man over three million years ago in Africa, to the garbage thrown into our trash cans and taken to city dumps and incinerators yesterday.

The objectives of archaeology are to construct cultural history by ordering and describing the events of the past, study cultural processes to explain the meaning of those events and what underlies and conditions human behavior, and reconstruct past lifeways.

Among the specialties in the field are: archaeobiology, archaeobotany, archaeozoology, and social archaeology. Modern archaeology, which is often considered a subdiscipline of anthropology, has become increasingly scientific and relies on a wide variety of experts; such as, biologists, geologists, physicists, sociologists, anthropologists, and historians.

The methods appropriate to different periods vary, leading to specialized branches of the subject, e.g. classical, medieval, industrial, etc. archaeology.

The large field of work that entails the physical and/or chemical analyses (measurement) of archaeological substances, their constituents, ages, residues, etc.

Any of a group of microorganisms that resemble bacteria but are different from them in certain aspects of their chemical structure; such as, the composition of their cell walls.

Some scientists believe that archaea were the earliest forms of cellular life. Also called archaebacterium.

A plant that existed in prehistoric times.

A fossil bird, of the Jurassic period, remarkable for having a long tapering tail of many vertebrae with feathers along each side, and jaws armed with teeth, with other reptilian characteristics.

An extinct primitive toothed bird with a long feathered tail and three free clawed digits on each wing.

1. Living in the earliest geological era.
2. The time from 3,800 million years to 2,500 million years ago; earth's crust formed; unicellular organisms were the earliest forms of life.
3. Formed in the earlier of two divisions of the Precambrian era.
4. Noting or pertaining to the earlier half of the Precambrian Era, from about 5 billion to 2.5 billion years ago, during which the earliest datable rocks were formed and from which the oldest known fossil forms, blue-green algae and bacteria, have been recovered.