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Essay on archaeology | Read this essay: –
1. Definition and Study Area of Archaeology.
2. Definitions of Archeological Excavation in Archeology.
3. Humanities.
Definition and Study Area of Archeology:
Archeology is called Archeology in the English language. It is made up of two Greek words Archaois and Logos. The first means archaic and the knowledge of the second. Thus, it literally means archaic knowledge. But the word archeology is not used only in this narrow sense, but today its field has become very wide.
It is the science through which the material life of the people of ancient times is acquired by digging out the hidden materials in the womb of the earth. It also seems necessary to look at the definitions of archeology given by various scholars in this regard.
In the words of the famous archaeologist Garden Child, ‘knowledge of human activities through physical remains is archeology’. Known by Leonard Cotterell as’ the remnant of human remains, his story is archeology. These relics can be tools, weapons, household objects, graves, human or animal remains.
Graham Clarke calls archeology the systematic study of antiquities as a means of reconstructing the human past. BB Lal’s idea is that archeology is the branch of science that interprets human cultures of the past. HD Sankalia considers ‘study of complete specimens’ as archeology.
Crawford’s view is that archeology is the branch of science that studies human cultures hidden in the womb of the past, and in practice its effect and purpose is to present a description of ancient and prehistoric cultures, similarly Leonard Booley aims at archeology ‘human Exploring and showing the development of civilization.
Daniel’s belief that archeology can be used in two main meanings:
1. Study of physical remains of ancient times.
2. Study of prehistoric antiquities.
Archeology was a helpful subject for early scholars. An American scholar named Walter Taylor called archeology simply ‘a collection of evidence-gathering systems and techniques’. According to him, the archaeologist is virtually nothing but a technician.
Pigat represented archeology as a branch of history. But in the recent decade, there has been a change in the ideology of archeology and its reputation has started as an independent subject. The name of Sir Martimer Wheeler is the most notable among scholars who distinguished archeology as an independent subject.
Giving accurate answers to those who consider archeology as a mere set of techniques, he said that the archaeologist digs not only the objects but also the climbing humans. He is the investigator of facts. Its facts are material records of human achievements.
Although they are lifeless, the archaeologist makes them come alive with their analytical power. He also possesses imagination like an artist and philosopher, using which he communicates life in uninhabited places and objects. From this point of view he is a humanist.
Thus, the field of archeology is very wide. Written evidence can be more than 5000 years old, whereas human beings emerged three million years ago. In terms of chronology only .001 percent of human civilization comes under the purview of history.
Its predecessors are prehistoric and proto historical periods. The study of man’s activities during his long time is possible only through archeology. Through material remains, the archaeologist creates the entire transit of man. The history of prehistoric and prehistoric times is based solely on archaeological investigations while archeology provides the scientific basis for the history of historical period.
In the field of study of archeology, we get an authentic basis for interpreting culture from which cultural change can also be explained. The knowledge of the microcosm of the human past is available only to us through archeology, because the activities of the common people are secondary in written evidence.
The archaeologist studies the materials obtained during excavation in a planned manner keeping in view the chronology and its scope here becomes extensive. He tries to know the nature of a particular culture, the type of equipment in it, its area of expansion as well as the process of its development and extinction.
He throws light on the social, religious, economic and political condition of the ancient human community and also gives knowledge of the changes made by humans in the physical world. He controlled human imagination by keeping the physical equipment and remains, and created the possible living history of the ancient culture.
In this vision, his working method is similar to that of an artist and scientist. He expands human knowledge and rises above the narrow national sentiment in humans to instill sympathy and compassion for the customs of all ancient human communities of the world.
Archaeologists have to study the living, food, shelter, equipment etc. of ancient humans. He also tries to find out what were the religious rituals of the ancient people, whether or not idolatry was prevalent in them, to what extent they believed in witchcraft, what was the nature of the deceased rites etc.
He also tries to know how the same type of culture originated in a particular region, whether its inhabitants were indigenous or the descendants, advanced culture developed in one region and spread to different regions or different regions. The residents independently invented it.
In this regard, the statement of the dealer is really important that just as a soldier fights the map, rather than the bases shown in it, in the same way for the archaeologist, it can be said that he can find objects in the excavation. But to humans who manufacture and use them.
He is imaginative but his imagination is controlled. Thus it is clear that its field is very wide, which includes the study of all human-related activities – social, economic, political, religious. At the same time, it is also the main means to explain the systematic cultural development of human beings.
Methods of Archeological Excavation in Archeology:
Excavation has special significance in archeology because it is through this that the objects hidden in the geology are brought to light. Until the twentieth century, excavation was done in a haphazard manner. At its initial stage, pits would be dug far and wide in the prescribed area and if any part of a building or wall was found, they were mixed for the knowledge of it. However, due to the development of scientific techniques in later times, the excavation work was started in a systematic way.
Currently, two major methods of excavation are applied:
i. Vertical excavation
ii. Horizontal excavation
Their details are as follows:
i. Vertical Excavation:
As is clear from the name itself, a long excavation of some place is done in it. This digging continues until the natural soil is found. It is dug from top to bottom. It is generally limited to some part of the site.
Through this, the entire civilization cannot be articulated but we can get the knowledge of the chronology of different cultures. In other words, it gives information about how long the concerned site was developed and by which people.
For this reason, Wheeler has given this method the name of Time Scale or Culture Scale. Through this excavation, it can be known that when people of which culture came in that area and when they were destroyed.
This method also helps in finding less and reciprocal relationship between different cultures. Since this excavation is done in a limited area, the whole picture of any culture or civilization is not present before us through it.
It does not provide any information about the political, economic, social, religious etc. aspects of any culture which is necessary for the detailed history writing of human beings. Therefore, vertical excavation can be helpful in the knowledge of stratification keeping the chronology of a culture.
In the words of Wheeler – “By vertical excavation is meant the excavation of a restricted area in depth with a view to ascertaining the succession of cultures or of phases and so producing a time scale or culture scale for the site”.
ii. Damage Excavation:
This means excavating the entire mound or larger part of it. Excavation is done in detail rather than vertically. With this type of excavation, we can get complete knowledge of the time-related culture of the respective site, as well as indirect relics of the related civilization.
This implies that what a particular place contributed to the development of civilization. The equations of a civilization are represented only through horizontal excavation. According to Havilar, horizontal excavation means digging up the entire or a wide part of a place related to a particular place in order to get a complete introduction to a culture.
In this way, horizontal excavation is necessary for the knowledge of the entire culture of a particular place. This method was used by Sir John Marshall in 1944-45 AD to depict the culture of the Parthian era by using the mound of the head of Taxila.
Similarly, the horizontal excavation of Mohenjodado gained detailed knowledge of the buildings, roads, streets, drains, fortifications, urban settings, etc. But in the absence of vertical excavation, there was no information about their development.
Horizontal excavation expenditure has been reduced due to being practicable. As a result, excavations do not present a complete and complete picture of the physical life of many stages of ancient Indian history.
The archaeologists consider both the above mentioned methods of excavation to be complementary to each other. At any place, both cannot be used separately. Therefore, it is necessary to use both vertical and horizontal to get complete information about the excavated area.
Vertical excavation provides information about the antiquity of an area, the nature of its inhabitants and their rise and fall. Subsequently, a complete anthem of the civilization or culture of the site can be obtained by excavating it horizontally.
Thus, it is desired to study a site in a vertical manner before horizontal excavation, its level configuration. Otherwise, civilization cannot be determined properly. In fact, we can reconstruct the history and culture of a period only with the information obtained from these two methods.
Wheeler considered vertical excavation to be the precursor to horizontal excavation. Regarding the mutual relationship of the two, he says that the vertical excavation is a train timetable without a train while the horizontal excavation is a train without a timetable.
Just as the time-table gets information from one station to another, respectively, but the form of the train of culture is not known. Similarly, horizontal excavation is like a train without a timetable, about which it is not known when it missed, which stations stopped and where it reached. Similarly, horizontal excavation cannot give knowledge of the expansion sequence of a civilization. Only by using both the methods of Astu excavation can we get the knowledge of the whole form of civilization.
It is necessary that first a vertical site should be excavated vertically to determine its cultures and then a horizontal excavation of different cultures or sites of a particular culture is done horizontally. Chronological development and complete nature of all culture or civilization can be gained. In the absence of any method, the entire aspect of the related culture cannot be revealed.
Relation of archeology in humanities and other sciences:
The main aim of archeology is to reveal the physical antiquities of man hidden in the geology and throw light on his civilization and culture. In relation to the compilation and interpretation of his evidence, archeology takes help from humanities and other natural sciences and thus it is closely related to these subjects.
History, geography, dance science and sociology are counted under the humanities, while natural sciences include Geology, Physics, Chemistry, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology. All of these are related to archeology in one way or the other.
As far as history is concerned, we see that archeology is its most authentic instrument. Humans are at the center of both history and archeology and both reconstruct the past in their own way. Records, coins and ancient monuments have been discovered by archeology and the history reconstructed with the help of all of them is factual rather than fictional.
The history of pre-written evidence in India is known primarily with the help of archeology. Our oldest Sandhav civilization is the only archeology. History is essential for every archaeologist so that he can combine the materials received with time-specific or event-specific to present a conclusion.
Without adequate history knowledge, it is not possible to draw archaeological findings, on the other hand, without archeology, the details of history remain imaginary. The two methods complement each other. For example, Buddhist texts refer to various cities, crafts, etc. contemporary with Buddha.
On the other hand, coins, seals, etc. of this period have come to light from archaeological excavations, which confirm the prosperous city life. In this way, the developed urbanization of the Buddha is clearly confirmed by both the evidence of literature and archeology. Therefore, history and archeology are closely related. Most scholars consider archeology to be a branch of history.
History has a close relation with geography and thus archeology, the branch of history, is also associated with geography. It is necessary to consider the geographical location for the knowledge of the history and culture of any country. Nature has given India a distinct geographical unit. As a result, he was able to develop his own independent culture.
Geographical conditions have played an important role in developing prehistoric culture. For studying the culture of this period, it is necessary for the archaeologist to keep gun of climate, environment and natural condition.
Knowledge of the climatic changes that occurred in the natural period is necessary for the study of the culture of that time. The excavator also has to keep information about the amount of water that flows on vegetation, fauna and the hungry. Thus, geography has a special contribution in the structure of prehistoric nature of Indian culture.
Human body structure, its society and culture, language etc. are studied under dance or anthropology. Primitive tribes and their practices are a major area of the study of dance. This is also studied in prehistoric archeology.
In the words of Dhirendra Nath Majumdar, ‘Pragatihasa is virtually the organ of dance which is interested in the study of Genesis. By studying the works of human beings, etc., it fully establishes the unbroken relationship and associated segregation of biological and cultural dances.
It also ensures that human life does not live in categories and departments. Integrity and frequency are its key attributes. This type of prehistory confirms the coherence of the dance.
But there is also some fundamental difference in the study method of dance and archeology. Firstly, the emphasis is on the study of human communities in dance.
In contrast, the subject of archeology is the extinct human society and the dead human. The second thing is that the dancer studies only about the human being, while the archaeologist studies the activities, tools, tools, antiquities etc. of the human being predominantly.
The field of the study of sociology is the composition, customs, rites and practices etc. of human society. Therefore, to get information about the social (family, marriage etc.) and political institutions of the ancient era, the archaeologist has to resort to sociology.
Without its knowledge, archaeologists cannot reconstruct history and culture. It is known from sociology that the practice of matrimonial family and polyandry or consanguinity was prevalent among primitive castes. Thus sociology and archeology are also closely related.
Among the natural sciences, geology can be first mentioned with which archeology is closely related. It is noteworthy that the famous scientist Darwin’s theory about the emergence and development of humans was the result of geological research.
Archeology has taken the principle of stratification only from the past. Scientists first discovered that there are layers inside the earth and the bottom layers are ancient compared to the upper layers. On this basis, the archaeologist concluded that the materials obtained from the upper surface in the excavation are chronologically later than the lower surface materials.
Similarly, the remains of upper level civilization are proved to be successors of lower level remains. On the basis of geological deposits, the tools of pre-Stone Age tools made by humans are planted and fossils (Fossils) can be studied and determined.
Also, information about the stone blocks used for making tools and weapons and their places of attainment can also be obtained with the help of ghosts. Physics helps archeology in determining the time of historical antiquities. On the basis of this, the antiquity of the remains or events is proved. The method developed based on elements such as potassium / argon (K40 / Ar40) and radiocarbon (C14) has greatly assisted in the determination of archaic dates. So there is an authentic method of census. Dates ranging from thirty to forty thousand years can be obtained from radio carbon method and from seventy to eighty thousand years with the help of some laboratories.
About thirty-six carbon dates have been obtained from the Middle Paleolithic levels in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Mysore, Kerala, etc., which are associated with six instruments. AHH Dani has contributed significantly in sorting out the date of Kanishka by obtaining carbon dates of the Kushanic remnants of the Shaikhan delay (located at Peshawar).
Archeology is also related to chemistry. Most of the remains obtained from archaeological sites, like coins, silt, rust etc., are tarnished. Chemical methods are used to clean them. At the same time, chemical substances such as barium, calcium sulfate, silver nitrate, nitric acid, nitrogen, carbon dioxide etc. are particularly useful for preservation and maintenance of antiquities.
The methods used for census are chemical methods like carbon-14, chlorine test, oxygen isotope analysis, potassium-analysis etc. which have proved highly beneficial in determining the date. The archetype of archeology is Tithikram and it is not possible without knowledge of chemistry.
As far as botany is concerned, we see that some methods of age determination like Pollen Analysis and Dentro Chronology archeology have taken this science. According to the pollen analysis method, the flowers that grow in plants contain pollen particles.
Generally, these do not perish unless there is no acidic element. On the basis of pollenated seeds, the spread of flora and climate of their time can be known. According to the tree ring analysis method, if the trees are cut from the middle, then marks are made like round rings on their cut. This is called ring.
Normally in trees, a ring is formed in a year. The date of any piece of wood can be determined based on these rings. But this method is not complete because the rings of all trees are not contemporary. The age of the tree can also be reduced or increased according to the climate. Thus, there is uncertainty in the dates fixed by this method.
The archaeologist of Paleontology, a branch of zoology, seeks help in determining the date. In this, date calculations are done after studying fossils. This knowledge is necessary for the archaeologist. Taking the help of this, archaeologists establish segregation in the ancient and extreme times on the basis of fossils of elephants, horses and other animals.
Regarding the natural state and climate of the past, archaeologists have to depend only on the findings of archaeologists. Only with the knowledge of zoology, a person can get information about non-edible substances. In this way, archeology is related in some way with the disciplinary branches of humanities and natural sciences. Archaeological findings will be complete only when resorting to these diverse subjects.