Archaeology is the study of past cultures through the discovery and examination of remaining artifacts and remains of things used by people. Archaeology is one of the main fields of anthropology since it offers the only method for studying lost and forgotten cultures. Archaeological study can uncover information about the beliefs, social structure, economic organization and environmental effects of past societies. Modern archaeologists have enhanced the accuracy of their work with scientific techniques of carbon dating of artifacts and the use of DNA analysis. "Archaeology is the study of humanity itself, and unless that attitude towards the subject is kept in mind archaeology will be overwhelmed by impossible theories or a welter of flint chips." - Margaret Murray.
"For me archaeology is not a source of illustrations for written texts, but an independent source of historical information, with no less value and importance, sometimes more importance, that the written sources." - Michael I. Rostovtzeff.
"Archaeology is concerned with the full range of past human experience - how people organized themselves into social groups and exploited their surroundings: what they ate, made and believed; how they communicated and why their societies changed" - Renfrew and Bahn.
"Archaeology is not only the hand maid of history, it is also the conservator of art." - Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
"The trend of all knowledge at the present is to specialize, but archaeology has in it all the qualities that call for the wide view of the human race, of its growth from the savage to the civilized, which is seen in all stages of social and religious development." - Margaret Murray.
"The artefacts recovered by archaeology tell us not merely how our forebears adapted to and modified their environments but how they learnt to shape their behaviour to accord with cultural values rather than merely with biological imperatives." - John G. D. Clark.
"In archaeology you uncover the unknown. In diplomacy you cover the known. - Thomas Pickering - US diplomat.
"Archaeology is the search for fact, not truth. If it's truth you're looking
for, Dr. Tyree's philosophy class is right down the hall." – Indiana Jones, in
Raiders of the Lost Ark.
“Archaeology is the peeping Tom of the sciences. It is the sandbox of men who care
not where they are going; they merely want to know where everyone else has been.” -
Jim Bishop.
"An archaeologist is the best husband any woman can have: the older she gets, the more interested he is in her." - Christie, Agatha.
Archaeology and Sociology (BA) - Cardiff University.
This Joint Honours degree programme enables you to combine the study of Archaeology with
Sociology. A Joint Honours degree is equal in status to a Single Honours degree, although
the time spent on each subject is effectively halved. For further information on the
content of this degree course, please see the individual subject areas.