Page 223 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol I - Abraham to Coal

108 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

Detailed drawings of the
site being excavated are
an importan part of the
archaeological research
process. This drawing was
made in the nineteenth
century of the ruins of
a church on Mount
Gerizim in Palestine.

origin and development of peo-
ples and their cultures; digging
at sites became more systematic.
In the latter nineteenth century
and into the twentieth, archae-
ologists began to focus on
chronology, established the suc-
cessive “three-age scheme” of
stone, bronze, and iron, and
searched more intensely for the beginnings of human- ology.This approach is similar to the New Archaeology,
kind. Anthropologists Charles Darwin (1809–1882), but also focuses on the inclusion of history and tries to
Lewis Henry Morgan, Edward B. Tylor, and others con- interpret meaning in artifacts. Ian Hodder, Mark Leone,
tributed greatly to this new direction.Although chronolo- and others have contributed to the development of this
gies, the three-age scheme, and the quest for human methodology.
origins would undergo numerous debates and contro-
Theodore W. Burgh
versies, the discipline of archaeology benefited and
adopted more scientific approaches. Some significant See also Dating Methods; Decipherment of Ancient
contributions to the discipline must be credited to schol- Scripts; Paleoanthropology
ars such as Heinrich Schliemann (Troy), Flinders Petrie
(the Near East), Leonard Woolley (Carchemish), Aurel
Stein (Asia), Mortimer Wheeler (Britain), the Leakeys Further Reading
(Africa), and W. F. Albright (Israel/Palestine). Bahn, P. (Ed.). (1996). The Cambridge illustrated history of archaeology.
New York: Cambridge University Press.
The 1960s and 1970s “New Archaeology,” sometimes Edwards, I. (1985). The pyramids of Egypt. New York: Viking Press.
referred to as analytical or processual archaeology, Trigger, B. (1993). The history of archaeological thought. New York: Cam-
bridge University Press.
brought a revolution to the field that is reflected in some
Woolley, C. (1982). Ur of the Chaldees. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University
fashion in the work of many archaeologists to this day. Press.
Lewis Binford, Fred Plog,William Longacre, and others
took a more anthropological approach and sought to
explore past civilizations holistically through ecology,
environment, and culture.This “new” approach and phi- Architecture
losophy has placed a permanent stamp on field and lab-
oratory methodologies. Consequently, archaeological rchitecture is the art and science of building envi-
teams have grown to incorporate a blend of staff per- Aronments for human needs. Since prehistoric times,
sonnel that may include paleoethnozoologists, geolo- people have created architecture to shelter their activities
gists, climatologists, and anatomists. Processual and to express their society’s values or their personal val-
archaeology has also generated post-processual archae- ues. Usually, the term architecture refers to a building or