ARCHAEOLOGY and ANTHROPOLOGY Archaeology Archaeology is the study

ARCHAEOLOGY and ANTHROPOLOGY

Archaeology • Archaeology is the study of past societies through analysis of what people left behind. • Archaeologists dig up and examine artifacts. • Artifacts: objects made by humans. • Can you think of examples of artifacts? • Tools, weapons, art, buildings, etc.

What might these artifacts reveal about the humans who made them?

Archaeologists at Work

Anthropology • Anthropology is the study of human life and culture. • Culture includes what people wear, how they organize their society, and what they value. • Anthropologists use artifacts and human fossils to create a picture of people’s everyday lives. • Fossils are rocklike remains of organisms

Methods • Archaeologists and anthropologists have developed scientific methods in their work • They excavate sites, or carefully dig up land, to uncover fossil remains of early humans, burial grounds, and other objects. • By examining artifacts, these scientists learn many important things about an ancient society.

Dating Artifacts and Fossils • One of the most difficult jobs for these scientists is dating their finds. • One method used to determine age is carbon dating. • All living things absorb a small amount of radioactive carbon, or C-14, from the atmosphere. • After a living thing dies, it loses carbon. By measuring the amount left in an object, scientists can figure out its age. • Works for objects no more than about 50, 000 years old.

Thermoluminescence • For objects dating back to 200, 000 years ago, scientists can make precise measurements by using thermoluminescence. • The measures of light given off by electrons trapped in the soil surrounding fossils and artifacts. Chlorophane exhibiting thermoluminescence when heated.

Question #1 • What do archaeology and anthropology, and history teach us about prehistoric humans?

EXIT TICKET • Make a list of three historical artifacts that provide clues about how humans lived in the past. Describe what these clues are. • Artifacts can be from any period in history