Literacies & Awareness 2: Archeology
What is Archeology?
Archaeology is the study of ancient human material remains. Archeologists sometimes study structures of recent centuries and present-day cities or they sometimes study with million-year-old fossils of our human ancestors.
Subfields of Archeology
Zooarcheology
It is the study of animal remains from archaeological sites.
Paleobotany and Paleoethnobotany
It is the study of fossilized plants.
Archeopedology
Archeopedology is the study of ancient soils in archeological contexts.
Prehistoric Archeology
Prehistoric archeology refers to peoples and cultures before Europeans made contact with Native peoples in the New World.
Forensic Archeology
It is used to recover evidence from areas of war, battlefields, and crime sites.
Archeoastronomy
Archeoastronomers study the relationships between ancient peoples, their monuments, and astronomic events.
Collections Management
Archaeologists prepare and store artifacts and the associated documentation from excavations for long-term care.
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Well Known Archeologists
Mary Leakey
Born in London in 1913, she spent decades uncovering ancestral hominids in East Africa.
She is the person who found the oldest proconsul (old ape) skull though she revolutionized our understanding of how humans and primates evolved.
Louis Leakey
Leakey, (born August 7, 1903, Kabete, Kenya — died October 1, 1972, London, England), Kenyan archaeologist and anthropologist whose fossil discoveries in East Africa proved that human beings were far older than had previously been believed and that human evolution was centered in Africa.
Recommended Lecture:
The Search for Early Christian Egypt
Exp. Story (Tomb of King Tut)
In 1322B.C when King Tut died he was just 19 years old. Despite his age, he ruled all Egypt for ten years.
His mummy was found inside a golden tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter and his team. When Carter found the tomb he worked on recording the treasures and historical items for months and worked carefully to remove the mummy from the tomb. Despite this, the team did great damage to King Tut’s Mummy.
After removing the tomb they did lots of research on King Tut’s mummy but the most curious question was “Was King Tut Murdered?”. The answer was like yes because the X-ray results showed two huge injuries in King Tut’s body.
But, in 2008 Zahi Hawass’s X-ray results showed that the injuries on King Tut’s body were made by Howard Carter and his team while carrying the mummy. So he wasn’t murdered. Also, they made another interesting analysis. The analysis of his DNA was showing that King Tut’s mother and father were brother and sister.
So the scientists now think that King Tut was dead because his DNA was making him highly vulnerable to disease.
