Main access to knowledge of prehistoric communities
We know everything we know today about prehistoric and ancient societies and communities thanks to the intense work carried out by archeology, the scientific discipline that precisely addresses this object of study and that uses the remains found of the aforementioned communities as the main evidence.
A complex activity that works in situ to collect evidence
Undoubtedly, what archeology undertakes is a very important activity due to the result that in effect it leaves us, which is to know more and more about our past, in order to explain the present and evolution in certain aspects . It is also a complex task because it involves a lot of research in situ, in those places and lands where it is known that certain civilizations settled that left an indelible mark on our history.
For this reason, when from this discipline new evidences and proofs are reached, normally materialized in objects and works produced by ancient peoples, it is that from the press there is a tremendous dissemination and celebration because this will surely allow us to know more relevant data about our ancestors, their culture, their uses and customs and, as we have already said, it is also a way to get to know ourselves better, because many of these ways of life were transferred through the generations ...
He focuses his study on the arts and monuments located during antiquity
So, Archeology is a science that deals with and focuses on the study of everything that refers to the arts and monuments located during antiquity .
Approaches the human study from the material and psychological
Broadly speaking, archeology will carry out its study of analyzing societies through their material remains, whether they were intentional or not . Many tend to conceive it together with History and not without it, however, archeology is an autonomous social science and not an auxiliary science of history that complements it with material documents. Likewise, archeology deepens its knowledge of human beings through the material and psychological culture that they left behind .
Archaeological methodology is focusing on more recent stages of history
Although the focus of attention and research in archeology has been fundamentally placed on Prehistory and Antiquity, in recent times, archaeological methodology has focused on more recent stages such as the Middle Ages, through the well-known Medieval Archeology, the Modern Age and up to the Industrial period. And even more, today, many archaeologists are occasionally dedicated to the study of super current materials, such as urban waste and that have given rise or origin to Industrial Archeology.
Phases of the archaeological study
The archaeological study is divided into three phases or stages . The first is prospecting , which is in which the exploration of the territory is carried out in search of material evidence that shows the existence of a deposit. At this stage, the population model or the period in time to which the findings correspond, if any, can be determined. The first thing that will be done is to delimit the territory, which may be arbitrary or geographical limits.
The next step is the excavation , which will certainly facilitate the collection of evidence to affirm this or that issue inherent to the town in question. The excavation can be an emergency excavation (conditioned by the transformation of the space and is linked to the construction of buildings or infrastructures, it requires documenting the remains because the site will be destroyed), research (they are carried out to discover new data and save some gaps in history) or heritage (strategic development of cultural activities and contribution of interest to certain points of attraction in the territory).
And finally the stage of laboratory work , in which the remains obtained will be exhaustively analyzed, through different tools and instruments, performing laboratory processing tasks in the cases that warrant it, always with extreme care not to damage the elements or pieces found, because if this happens the existing evidence would be lost and of course all the previous work would be lost, which is certainly complex and arduous since, as we have seen, it implies a great mobilization of resources of all kinds.
The cave paintings, an archaeological evidence par excellence
The cave paintings are one of the oldest human artistic manifestations, since some date back 40 thousand years, and without a doubt they have been one of the great evidences with which archeology was found in its work and that allowed it not only to reconstruct the form of human life in the past but also discover that art is present in man from minute zero almost. They are found arranged in rocks and in caves and of course archeology arrived there in its search for discovery.
Professionals who are dedicated to this activity are called archaeologists.