Areas of Specialisation...
Below are our articles on the subject of Areas of Specialisation. If you can't see what you are looking for our other categories are displayed on the left under 'Our Quick Links'...
Archaeological Interpretation
Archaeologists are literally stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the interpretation of archaeological data. The reason it is so difficult harks back...
Archaeologists & Museum Work
Professional archaeologists are employed by universities governments and in private companies. They are also required to fulfil the essential roles inside a museum....
Archaeology And The Study Of Archaeoastronomy
Throughout ancient history humanity has looked heavenward in awe of the sparkling jewels in the cosmic creation. Ancient cultures formed world-views...
Classification
Archaeological classification incorporates the processing of field acquired data collection and collation of ceramics, organic remains, lithic relics, and any other...
Cognitive Archaeology
Cognitive archaeology is recognised as a sub-discipline of archaeology which is itself a sub-discipline of anthropology. The word ‘cognitive’ is derived from the Latin...
Computer Archaeology
In archaeology when experts speak about the use of computers in their work, they are not meaning taking a laptop to the excavation site and typing in digging data. It is...
Conservators of Underwater Archaeology
On a terrestrial site, analysis of the artefacts may take up to eighteen months, while the excavation of them may only have taken as little as a few...
Dating Techniques In Archaeology
When museums and collectors purchase archaeological items for their collections they enter an expensive and potentially deceptive commercial fine arts arena. Healthy...
Decipherment
In archaeology the word decipherment is used in reference to the translating of ancient writing into modern texts. One of the unusual realities of archaeological...
Defixiones: Curse Tablets
What are Defixiones?
The word defixiones, as used by archaeologists, is from the ancient Roman term tabulae defixiones which translated means curse tablets....
Egyptology
Egyptology, as the name suggests, is the study of the civilization and culture known as ancient Egypt. These people appeared to unify into one well-organised state as...
Ethnoarchaeology
The method of ethnoarchaeological interpretation was developed by archaeologists to counteract the growing abuses found in the ethnographic analogy method.
To help...
Gender Archaeology
Gender archaeology is a sub-discipline investigative method of studying ancient societies through close examination of the roles played by men and women as exhibited in...
Ground Penetrating Radar in Archaeology
Ground-penetrating radar (abbreviated as GPR) is a technique used in geophysics to collect and record information about the earth’s subsurface....
How Aerial Photography Helps In Archaeology
An aerial perspective produces immediate visual information that is not discernable from the ground. Even the most well trained eye of a specialist...
Human Remains
Human osteology is a detailed, scientific study of the composite structure of human bones, exploring the basic skeletal frame, analysis of teeth, diagnosis of disease,...
Industrial Archaeology
Amateur historian Michael Rix, introduced the term Industrial Archaeology (IA) to academic centres in 1955, as the title of one of his written articles. The phrase is so...
Isotope Analysis
Isotope analysis is the examination and identification of isotopic signatures or the distribution of stable isotopes within chemical compounds. In archaeology it is...
Landscape Archaeology
The concept of landscape archaeology is frequently used by archaeologists to describe an activity that is engaged by humans with their surrounding environment. For...
Mesoamerican Archaeology
Mesoamerica is archaeologically defined as the geographical area of central and southern Mexico and other parts of Central America such as Guatemala, where numerous...
Palynology
Palynology is an independent science that studies palynomorphs such as pollen acritarchs, spores, dinoflagellate cysts, scolecodonts and chitinozoans, along with POM...
Radio Carbon Dating
The most important archaeological dating method is radiocarbon dating. It is a technique that can yield absolute dates with accuracy up to approximately 5000 years...
Rock Art, Ancient Communication
Rock Art is a general term for all forms of humanly fashioned marks on lithic surfaces. The term is a general category that includes at least two distinctive types of...
The Archaeological Metallurgist
A great number of archaeologists lack professional experience in excavating and interpreting artefacts or ancient activities involved in metalworking. To avoid any...
The Aztecs
To many people the word Aztec conjures up images of plentiful gleaming gold and Mesoamerican Indians in rich costumes performing ritualistic dances. Although this is the...
The Bone Expert
The study of the chronological history of life on earth as observed in the fossil record is the science called palaeontology. Simply put, the palaeontologist is a fossil...
The Means of Ancient Communication: Part 1
The invention of writing and in particular of alphabetic writing marked a milestone in cultural development. It provided humanity with a new means of...
The Means of Ancient Communication: Part 2
As written forms of language slowly developed the materials upon which the text was applied also changed to become more user friendly. Early writing...
Underwater Archaeology
Civilizations have always exploited the vastness of the ocean for transport and trade. Shipping transportation has been the strength and power of great empires. Ancient...
Urban Archaeology
Urban Archaeology is the particular sub-discipline of conventional archaeology, which specialises in the study of the material remains of cities towns and substantial...
What Animal Bones Can Tell Us In Archaeology
The bones and teeth of animals are frequently collected in substantial quantities on archaeology excavation sites. In studying these animal bones it...
What is Experimental Archaeology?
Experimental archaeology is one of the very practical methods of archaeological interpretation. It is a living analytical process used to re-create aspects in part or in...
