Archaeologists have long used carbon-14 dating (also known as radiocarbon dating) to estimate the age of certain objects. Traditional radiocarbon dating is applied to organic remains between 500 and 50,000 years old and exploits the fact that trace amounts of radioactive carbon are found in the natural environment.

What can physical artifacts tell us about human history?

This evidence tells us about past events and provides information on how the people before us lived their lives: what they ate, how they built their houses and how they organized their communities. Ancient artifacts are simply objects that give evidence about people’s lives in the distant past.

What methods do archaeologists use to investigate the past?

Of the many geophysical techniques that exist, archaeologists generally make use of four: magnetic gradiometry, earth resistance, ground penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetic susceptibility. Each technique measures some aspect of the ground below the surface.

What methods are available for use in providing an approximate age for artifacts?

Very few artifacts recovered from an archeological site can be absolutely dated. Archeologists use several methods to establish absolute chronology including radiocarbon dating, obsidian hydration, thermoluminescence, dendrochronology, historical records, mean ceramic dating, and pipe stem dating.

How accurate is archeology?

That sounds exciting, but it is not exactly accurate. Perhaps we should start with what archaeology is not. Archaeology is primarily concerned with reconstructing extinct cultures from the material remains of past human behavior, or the things people made or used and left behind. These remains are called artifacts.

How far can we date back?

Radiocarbon dating can easily establish that humans have been on the earth for over twenty thousand years, at least twice as long as creationists are willing to allow.

What can artifacts teach us?

Learning about artifacts will expand on the basics. For instance, people need food to live, and by studying artifacts we can learn about what foods people ate long ago, as well as how they ate them. Artifacts can also give insight to behavior, and students may discover clues to how that community operated.

Why are archaeologists interested in the distant past?

Although some archaeologists study living cultures, most archaeologists concern themselves with the distant past. People have dug up monument s and collected artifacts for thousands of years. Often, these people were not scholars, but looter s and grave robber s looking to make money or build up their personal collections.

How old is archaeology as a scientific study?

The history of archaeology as a study of the ancient past has its beginnings at least as early as the Mediterranean Bronze Age. Archaeology as a scientific study is only about 150 years old. Interest in the past, however, is much older than that.

How often do archaeologists dig in the world?

When they dig depends on various factors, including academic calendars, local weather conditions, and national holidays. Since these vary so much all over the world, it is really the case that on any given day, there are archaeologists digging somewhere.

What do historians and archaeologists do for a living?

Through the oral traditions of modern Puebloan people, they learned about the past culture of their Anasazi ancestors. While historians and archaeologists both use written documents to learn about the past, only archaeologists interpret archaeological sites. That involves unique field work.