Archaeology is the study of human activity in the past, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts (also known as eco-facts) and cultural landscapes (the archaeological record).
The development of the field of archaeology has its roots with history and with those who were interested in the past, such as kings and queens who wanted to show past glories of their respective nations. In the 6th century BCE, Nabonidus of the Neo-Babylonian Empire excavated, surveyed and restored sites built more than a millennium earlier under Naram-sin of Akkad. The 5th-century-BCE Greek historian Herodotus was the first scholar to systematically study the past and also an early examiner of artifacts. In Medieval India, the study of the past was recorded. In the Song Empire (960–1279) of imperial China, Chinese scholar-officials unearthed, studied, and cataloged ancient artifacts, a native practice that continued into the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) before adoption of Western methods. The 15th and 16th centuries saw the rise of antiquarians in Renaissance Europe such as Flavio Biondo who were interested in the collection of artifacts. The antiquarian movement shifted into nationalism as personal collections turned into national museums. It evolved into a much more systematic discipline in the late 19th century and became a widely used tool for historical and anthropological research in the 20th century. During this time there were also significant advances in the technology used in the field.
The OED first cites "archaeologist" from 1824; this soon took over as the usual term for one major branch of antiquarian activity. "Archaeology", from 1607 onwards, initially meant what we would call "ancient history" generally, with the narrower modern sense first seen in 1837.
Beginnings
Khaemweset, a son of ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II, was known for his keen interest in identifying and restoring monuments of Egypt's past, such as Djoser's step pyramid. This pyramid, having been built in the 27th century BCE, predated Khaemweset by approximately 1,400 years. Due to his activities, he is sometimes nicknamed "the first Egyptologist".
In ancient Mesopotamia, a foundation deposit of the Akkadian Empire ruler Naram-Sin (ruled ) was discovered and analysed by king Nabonidus of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, , who is thus known as the first archaeologist. Not only did he lead the first excavations which were to find the foundation deposits of the temples of Šamaš the sun god, the warrior goddess Anunitu (both located in Sippar), and the sanctuary that Naram-Sin built to the moon god, located in Harran, but he also had them restored to their former glory. He was also the first to date an archaeological artifact in his attempt to date Naram-Sin's temple during his search for it. Even though his estimate was inaccurate by about 1,500 years, it was still a very good one considering the lack of accurate dating technology.
Early systemic investigation and historiography can be traced back to the Greek historian Herodotus (). He was the first western scholar to systematically collect artifacts and test their accuracy. He was also the first to make a compelling narrative of the past. He is known for a set of nine books called the Histories, in which he wrote everything he could learn about different regions. He discussed the causes and consequences of the Greco-Persian Wars. He also explored the Nile and Delphi. However, scholars have found errors in his records and believe he probably did not go as far up the Nile as he claimed.
In Mesoamerica, the Mexica (or Aztecs) performed excavations in Teotihuacan, a city abandoned for several hundred years before the arrival of the Mexica in the Valley of Mexico in the 14th century. Teotihuacano artifacts were brought to the capital Tenochtitlan, and buildings were built in a "Teotihuacan-revival" style of architecture, such as the Templos Rojos besides Templo Mayor.The Mexica recovery of the Teotihuacan past (Spanish), Leonardo López Luján, 1989
https://www.mesoweb.com/es/articulos/sub/Recuperacion-mexica.pdf
Antiquarians
Archaeology later concerned itself with the antiquarianism movement. Antiquarians studied history with particular attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts, as well as historical sites. They usually were wealthy people. They collected artifacts and displayed them in cabinets of curios. Antiquarianism also focused on the empirical evidence that existed for the understanding of the past, encapsulated in the motto of the 18th-century antiquary Sir Richard Colt Hoare, "We speak from facts not theory". Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Imperial China
During the Song dynasty (960–1279) in China, educated gentry became interested in the antiquarian pursuit of art collecting.Fairbank, John King; Goldman, Merle (2006) , China: A New History (2nd enlarged ed.). Cambridge; London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, , p. 33. Neo-Confucian scholar-officials were generally concerned with archaeological pursuits in order to revive the use of ancient Shang, Zhou, and Han relics in state rituals. This attitude was criticized by the polymath official Shen Kuo (1031–1095) in his Dream Pool Essays of 1088. He endorsed the idea that materials, technologies, and objects of antiquity should be studied for their functionality and for the discovery of ancient manufacturing techniques.Fraser, Julius Thomas; Haber, Francis C. (1986), Time, Science, and Society in China and the West. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, , p. 227. Although a distinct minority, there were others who took the discipline as seriously as Shen did. For instance, the official, historian, poet, and essayist Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072) compiled an analytical catalogue of ancient rubbings on stone and bronze.Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1999). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (paperback), p. 148.Clunas, Craig. (2004). Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. , p. 95. Zhao Mingcheng (1081–1129) stressed the importance of using ancient inscriptions to correct discrepancies and errors in later historical texts discussing ancient events.Trigger, Bruce G. (2006). A History of Archaeological Thought: Second Edition. New York: Cambridge University Press. , p. 74. Native Chinese antiquarian studies waned during the Yuan (1279–1368) and Ming (1368–1644) dynasties, were revived during the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), but never developed into a systematic discipline of archaeology outside of Chinese historiography.Trigger, Bruce G. (2006). A History of Archaeological Thought: Second Edition. New York: Cambridge University Press. , pp. 74–76.Clunas, Craig. (2004). Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. , p. 97. The Chong xiu Xuanhe bogutu (重修宣和博古圖) archaeological collection catalogue commissioned by Emperor Huizong of Song (r. 1100–1125) was widely reprinted in the 16th century during the Ming period,Clunas, Craig. (2004). Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. , pp. 95–97. but it was criticized by Hong Mai (1123–1202) for containing inaccuracies about Han dynasty artifacts.Rudolph, R.C. "Preliminary Notes on Sung Archaeology," The Journal of Asian Studies (Volume 22, Number 2, 1963): 171 (169–177).
Medieval India
The 12th century Indian scholar Kalhana's writings involved recording of local traditions, examining manuscripts, inscriptions, coins and architectures, which is described as one of the earliest traces of archaeology. One of his notable work is called Rajatarangini which was completed in 1150 and is described as one of the first history books of India.
Renaissance Europe
In Europe, interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilisation and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the Late Middle Ages. Despite the importance of antiquarian writing in the literature of ancient Rome, such as Livy's discussion of ancient monuments,Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 7.3.7: cited also in the Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982, 1985 reprinting), p. 1132, entry on monumentum, as an example of meaning 4b, "recorded tradition." scholars generally view antiquarianism as emerging only in the Middle Ages. Flavio Biondo, an Italian Renaissance humanist historian, created a systematic guide to the ruins and topography of ancient Rome in the early 15th century, for which he has been called an early founder of archaeology.J.A.White(ed),Biondo Flavio: Italy Illuminated (Cambridge, MA, 2005)Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Flavio Biondo". Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 May. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Flavio-Biondo . Accessed 27 October 2021. The itinerant scholar Ciriaco de' Pizzicolli or Cyriacus of Ancona (1391–) also traveled throughout Greece to record his findings on ancient buildings and objects. Ciriaco traveled all around the Eastern Mediterranean, noting his archaeological discoveries in a day-book, Commentaria, that eventually filled six volumes. He has been called the "father of archaeology" by historians such as Edward W. Bodnar:
English antiquarians of the 16th century including John Leland and William Camden conducted topographical surveys of England's countryside, drawing, describing and interpreting the monuments that they encountered.Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "John Leland". Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Apr. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Leland . Accessed 27 October 2021.Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "William Camden". Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Apr. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Camden . Accessed 27 October 2021. These individuals were frequently clergymen: many vicars recorded local landmarks within their parishes, details of the landscape and ancient monuments such as standing stones—even if they did not always understand the significance of what they were seeing.
Shift to nationalism In the late 18th to 19th century archaeology became a national endeavor as personal cabinets of curios turned into national museums. People were now being hired to go out and collect artifacts to make a nation's collection more grand and to show how far a nation's reach extends. For example, Giovanni Battista Belzoni was hired by Henry Salt, the British consul to Egypt, to gather antiquities for Britain. In nineteenth-century Mexico, the expansion of the National Museum of Anthropology and the excavation of major archaeological ruins by Leopoldo Batres were part of the liberal regime of Porfirio Díaz to create a glorious image of Mexico's pre-Hispanic past.Christina Bueno, The Pursuit of Ruins: Archeology, History, and the Making of Modern Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2016.
First excavations