What is Archaeology?

Many might have heard about archaeologists like Howard Carter, who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. But what is archaeology really?

Archaeology is the study of the humans past and activities through the recovery and analysis of the material culture left behind from human activities in the past. In other words it means that the archaeologist study and try to understand and explain events in the past through the examinations of the material remains that is left behind.

The name Archaeology is derived from the greek words αρχαίος and λόγος. Which translates to ancient/old and word/speech/study. In other words Archaeology literally means the study of the old. It is both a part of the humanities and social science, and uses several methods from the field of the natural sciences. The combination of these fields have been an important part of archaeology for the past few decades. Archaeology has been through a long process to get to where it is today, but is still today ever-changing and evolving. It is one of the most diverse diciplines with its combination of social science and natural science. This can be seen in the many sub-cathergories of the field. Some of sub-cathergories are; Marine Archaology, Zooarchaeology, Paleoarchaeology, Environmental Archaeology, Archaeobotany, Experimental Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Osteology and Ethnoarchaeology. 

As a dicipline, Archaeology started developing in the 1700s, but it did not blossom untill the late 19th and early 20th century. During the 1960s, the "New Archaeology" emerged. It combines several different fields in order to attempt to create a better understanding and interpretation of the past. The field of Archaeology is ever evolving even today.