What is Archaeology?

What do you think of when you think of Archaeology and what it means to be an Archaeologist? Dr Juliet Spedding gives an introduction to this varied subject in this online workshop.

To continue discussing this topic with your class try using the below worksheet questions (answers are at the bottom of the page). You can also download the worksheet questions and worksheet answers to use in class.

Worksheet questions

1) Archaeology is

• a) a science
• b) a humanities subject
• c) a social science

2) What is the name of a famous ancient historian?

3) Who established the principles of artefact classification, typology, and relative dating? Petrie or Naville?

4) Everything in archaeology must be recorded in its__________.

5) The Law of___________ was borrowed from ___________.

6) What are the three ages in the Three Age Chronological System?

7) What is the name of the star that the Egyptians thought showed the start of the new year?

8) C14/radiocarbon dating can only be done on ________ materials.

9) What and who disrupted the balance of cosmic radiation?

10) Can you use C14 to date pottery and how might you do this?

11) What method of dating revealed the problems with C14 dating?

12) Dating wooden objects with the method described in question 11 will give us the date the tree was ________.

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Worksheet answers 

Question 1) (c) social science.

Question 2) Herodotus.

Question 3) Petrie.

Question 4) Context.

Question 5) Superposition, geology/geologists.

Question 6) Stone, Bronze, Iron.

Question 7) Sothis/Sirius.

Question 8) Organic.

Question 9) Nuclear Age, Humans.

Question 10) Yes, use organic residues left inside the pottery.

Question 11) Dendrochronology.

Question 12) Felled.