Archaeologists investigate human history by studying the objects and buildings people in the past left behind. There are different types of archaeology. The study of the people who left behind written records is called historical archaeology. The study of underwater sites like shipwrecks is called maritime archaeology. The study of people who didn't have writing is called prehistoric archaeology. Places where people in the past lived or did things are called archaeological sites. One way archaeologists study the past is to excavate or 'dig' archaeological sites.
Find out how historical archaeologists excavate sites...
Project Director
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The director organizes the project and makes sure there are enough field excavators, lab workers, and specialists to get the job done. The director is also in charge of making sure no one gets hurt on the site. The project director works out what questions about the past the excavation will try to answer. When the dig is over, he or she writes a report on what the archaeologists found and how it helped answer our questions about the past.
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Historian
Historical researchers look in libraries, government archives, and even on the Internet for historical documents that contain information about people who used to live on archaeological sites.
Historical documents can tell you who used to live on a site, where they came from, if they were rich or poor, or how many children they had. These documents help archaeologists understand the lives of people who lived in the past.
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Excavator
An archaeological site is like a puzzle made up of layers of soil, features, and artifacts. Excavating the site gives us clues about what happened in the past. The archaeological site contains information that we couldn’t find out from looking in old books or photographs. Archaeologists make careful notes about what they find on archaeological sites. These notes will help us understand what happened in the past. |
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Lab Specialist
When the excavation is finished, the artifacts are taken back to the lab. Lab workers clean the artifacts and label them so we always know what part of the archaeological site they came from.
Mostly the excavators only find the artifacts in pieces. We spread out all the pieces and put the artifacts back together again with tape. It is like doing a huge puzzle, but it helps us understand what happened on the site.
Afterwards, the artifacts are packed away in boxes. We keep them so that future archaeologists can also study them. |
Faunal Expert
Faunal specialists look at the bones that are found on archaeological sites and identify what type of animals they came from. Their work helps archaeologists understand what people in the past ate and what animals they kept on their farms and in their backyards. Sometimes even human bones are found on archaeological sites. Faunal experts can tell a lot about people from their bones: how old they were, how healthy they were, and how they died.
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Graphic Specialist
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Graphic specialists help publish the results of archaeological excavations. They take the drawings made by the excavators and get them ready for publication. An important part of archaeology is telling everyone what they have found on archaeological sites. Graphic specialists publish reports, books, and Web sites to tell people about the archaeological sites we dig, and what they found out about the people who lived there in the past.
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Stockton,
CA 
Archaeologist
