Archaeology is the science and humanity that studies historical human cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material culture and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, and landscapes. Archaeology aims to understand humankind through these humanistic endeavors. In the United States the field is commonly considered to be a subset of anthropology, along with physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology, whilst in British and European universities, archaeology is considered as a separate discipline.
Archaeology involves surveyance, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected in order to learn more about the past. There are various different goals to the discipline, including the documentation and explanation of the origins and development of human cultures, understanding culture history, chronicling cultural evolution, and studying human behavior and ecology, for both prehistoric and historic societies. Indeed, archaeology is particularly useful in discovering information about human Prehistory, which comprises over 99% of total human history, due to the lack of written sources for this period and the full reliance on archaeological evidence. However, alongside this it is also used to investigate more recent history, even that reaching back only a few decades.
Left, Artist Lucy Telles and large basket, in Yosemite National Park, 1933 Center, Haida totem pole, Thunderbird Park, British Columbia. Right, Mata Ortiz pottery jar by Jorge Quintana, 2002. Displayed at Museum of Man, San Diego, California.
In broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. It draws upon anthropology, history, art history, classics, ethnology, geography, geology, linguistics, physics, information sciences, chemistry, statistics, paleoecology, paleontology, paleozoology, paleoethnobotany, and paleobotany.
Looting of archaeological sites is an ancient problem. For instance, many of the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs were looted during antiquity. Archaeology stimulates interest in ancient objects, and people in search of artifacts or treasure cause damage to archaeological sites. The commercial and academic demand for artifacts unfortunately contributes directly to the illicit antiquities trade. Smuggling of antiquities abroad to private collectors has caused great cultural and economic damage in many countries whose governments lack the resources and or the will to deter it. Looters damage and destroy archaeological sites, denying future generations information about their ethnic and cultural heritage. Indigenous peoples especially lose access to and control over their 'cultural resources', ultimately denying them the opportunity to know their past.
Popular consciousness often associates looting with poor Third World countries, but this is a false assumption. A lack of financial resources and political will are chronic worldwide problems inhibiting more effective protection of archaeological sites. Many Native American Indians today, such as Vine Deloria, Jr., consider any removal of cultural artifacts from a Native American Indian site to be theft, and much of professional archaeology as academic looting.
Left, Storyteller Under Sunny Skies, storyteller doll by Rose Pecos-SunRhodes (Jemez), 1993, collection of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Center, Una Vida Pueblo, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. by photographer James Q. Jacobs. Right, "Carpet" of land in the Town Hall Square in La Orotava Tenerife in celebration of Corpus Christi.
In the United States, examples such as the case of Kennewick Man have illustrated the tensions between Native Americans and archaeologists which can be summarized as a conflict between a need to remain respectful towards burials sacred sites and the academic benefit from studying them. For years, American archaeologists dug on Indian burial grounds and other places considered sacred, removing artifacts and human remains to storage facilities for further study. In some cases human remains were not even thoroughly studied but instead archived rather than reburied. Furthermore, Western archaeologists' views of the past often differ from those of tribal peoples. The West views time as linear; for many natives, it is cyclic. From a Western perspective, the past is long-gone; from a native perspective, disturbing the past can have dire consequences in the present.
Susquehannock artifacts on display at the State Museum of Pennsylvania, 2007 |
Archaeologists have also been obliged to re-examine what constitutes an archaeological site in view of what native peoples believe to constitute sacred space. To many native peoples, natural features such as lakes, mountains or even individual trees have cultural significance. Australian archaeologists especially have explored this issue and attempted to survey these sites in order to give them some protection from being developed. Such work requires close links and trust between archaeologists and the people they are trying to help and at the same time study.
While this cooperation presents a new set of challenges and hurdles to fieldwork, it has benefits for all parties involved. Tribal elders cooperating with archaeologists can prevent the excavation of areas of sites that they consider sacred, while the archaeologists gain the elders' aid in interpreting their finds. There have also been active efforts to recruit aboriginal peoples directly into the archaeological profession. (Wikipedia.org)
Archaeology Links:
- Archaeology Daily News
- Pastscape. 400,000 records of archaeological sites and architecture in England
- NPS Archeology Program: Visit Archeology (Archeology travel guides)
- Great Archaeology - the history of archeology
- Archaeological news - updated daily
- Council for British Archaeology
- Fasti Online - an online database of archaeological sites
- The Archaeology Division of the American Anthropological Association
- The Archaeological Institute of America
- The Society for American Archaeology
- The World Archaeological Congress
- archaeolog.org - a collective blog dedicated to all things archaeological
- The Archaeology Data Service - Open access online archive for UK and global archaeology
Museums that house significant Native American Collections for teachers and students to study from. These museums also host numerous Native American exhibitions:
- The Abbe Museum
- Arizona State Museum
- Autry Nattional Center for the American West
- Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art
- Bowers Museum
- Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
- Cantor Arts Center
- Carnegie Museum of Natural History
- Cherokee Heritage Center
- Colorado History Museum
- Denver Art Museum
- Detroit Institute of Arts
- Gilcrease Museum
- The Heard Museum
- Heritage Hall Museum and Archive
- High Desert Museum
- Historic Arkansas Museum
- Historic Toadlena Trading Post Weaving Museum
- Historical Museum of Southern Florida
- Institute for American Indian Studies
- Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
- Kennedy Museum of Art
- Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum
- Lauren Rogers Museum of Art
- Maine State Museum
- Marin Museum of the American Indian
- Frank H.McClung Museum
- Millicent Rogers Museum
- Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
- Montana Historical Society
- Monterey Maritime and History Museum
- Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
- Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
- National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
- National Museum of the American Indian
- Navajo Nation Museum
- Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
- Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture
- Peabody Essex Museum
- Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
- Philbrook Museum of Art
- Princeton University Art Museum
- Royal British Columbia Museum
- Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
- Seattle Art Museum
- Sharlot Hall Museum
- Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum
- Taylor Museum
- Utah Museum of Fine Arts
- Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
More of The Best Native American clipart, photographs, illustrations, and engravings. Our staff updates all of the links listed below.
- First People's giant collection of indian clipart.
- Native American Clipart from old books.
- Indian graphics from Greasy Grass
- Native American Clipart from the Public Domain
- Heartland Ranch Indian Graphics
- Heartland Prairie Indian Graphics
- School Clip Art of Native Americans
- Blue Cloud Abby Native American Photograph Collection.
- Pictures of Native Americans in the United States
- Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian
- American Indians / Native Americans from the Chicago Daily News
- National Anthropological Archives
- Indians of North America-Theodore De Bry Copper Plate Engravings
- Index of White Watercolors and De Bry Engravings
- Picturing the New World, The hand-colored De Bry Engravings of 1590
- Public Domain Images of Native Americans
- Native portraits from the Public Domain Photo Blog
- National Anthropological Archives
- Native American Photochroms
- After Columbus: Four-hundred Years of Native American Portraiture
- American Indian Occupation of Alcatraz Island
- American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Digital Collection
- Benedicte Wrensted: An Idaho Photographer in Focus
- Dawn of a New Day, photograph collections at the Arizona State University Library
- Early Photographers Of First Peoples In British Columbia
- Edward Harvey Davis Photo Gallery - San Diego Historical Society
- Gallery of the Open Frontier, University of Nebraska Press and the National Archives
- Images of the Indian Peoples of the Northern Great Plains
- Indians near Warner Springs - San Diego Historical Society
- Mi'kmaq Portraits
- Native American Photographs : Nineteenth Century Images, Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
- Panoramic photographs from the National Archives, including one of a large group on Indians.
- Photographs from the Union Pacific Railroad Archives
- Picture Collection Online from the New York Public Library
- Pictures of Indians in the United States , in the National Archives
- Prints and Photographs Reading Room , Library of Congress
- llustrations and Photographs, 1891-93 by Thomas W. Kavanagh
- Wanamaker Collection of American Indian photographs
- Reading Historic Photographs: Photographers of the Pawnee by Thomas W. Kavanagh
- Richard Throssel: Photographer of the Crows
- Special Collections and Archives Department, Cline Library , Northern Arizona University
- Stereotyping Native America
- The Outsider and the Native Eye: The Photographs of Richard Throssel
- Visual Records Collections, British Columbia Archives
- Wisconsin Historical Images
- Alaska Clipart Collection
- ETC's Native American Clip Art
- Native American Clipart from U.S. History Images
- Native American Symbols
- Native American Indian Graphics from classroomclipart.com
- Native American Tribal Designs from Adcre8tr.com
- Tribal Clip Art from Native American Art Prints
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