The Importance of Archaeology

Archaeology is the study of past human behavior using systematic recovery as well as analysis of materials objects or remains. Those objects are also known as artifacts. They are varied in type as well as size. They can be the size of your button or a building. No matter what size they are in, they are solid evident of the past cultures that can be used to analyzed deeper. They are also proof of anything happened in the past before. They also serve as solid connection to the past. By conducting archaeological projects, it is expected to gain better understanding of something happened in the past especially related to human activities and cultures.

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Why archaeology is important

As mentioned earlier that archaeology is brought to give comprehensive understanding of how and why human behavior has changed. There are patterns that archaeologists can trace down to notice significant cultural events. Some methods are used during archaeology projects to predict how future will change. Thus, there may be some ways to plan for the future.

Archaeology itself is divided into two groups, prehistoric and historic. Prehistoric archaeology is a study of the past cultures with no written language to add the analysis. It is because prehistoric people didn’t leave writing to describe or experience their culture. Instead, they use tools, objects, dietary refuse, and many more. Those remains are helpful to aid the analysis done by archaeologists to know more about the past human behavior.

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Meanwhile, historic archaeology studies the remains of the past cultures that have written records. The records are varied. They could be in a form of diaries, maps, photographs, tax records, etc. using documentation and evidence, it is easier to gather better understanding of the past especially related to human cultures and behavior.

Aside from its purpose to gain better understanding of the past human behavior, archaeology projects are often conducted to know the cultural development especially during prehistoric ages. Using only physical objects without any explanation, archaeologists use methods to break down every information to detail.

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Living in modern life as we are today, culture can documents everything through written records such as newspaper, internet, television, etc. However, there are also flaws of written records as they tend to be biased. That’s why archaeology holds important role because it can provides more objective account of the past. Learning the past as part of cultural heritage is important for future generation.