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WHAT IS ARCHAEOLOGY?
Artifacts, aerial photographs, analysis
Research, recording, recovering, reporting
Collections, classification, curation
Human history, heritage protection, historic preservation
Accountability
Evidence, excavation, education
Observation, osteology, oral tradition
Lithics, laser mapping, landscapes
Outreach
Geophysical survey, GIS, Geoscience
You and your interest and support!
“Archaeology is the scientific study of the
human past in all its facets—technology,
economics, politics, religion, and more.” JFD
This week, time travel across Historic excavation near Highway 1.
Iowa and follow the archaeological
footprints of 10,000 years of human the squeaky wheels of the Mormon
history. Can you picture a small band handcarts denting the Iowa prairie?
of hunters caching their stone blades Discover how a fabulous walnut canoe
in a late Ice Age landscape or hear ended up in the banks of a southwest
Iowa river and what happened to the
“Archaeology is the intrigue of exploration once-thriving coal-mining community
and the thrill of discovery, leading to at Buxton.
information about our collective human past.” “Archaeology is about preserving and
Mark Anderson enhancing the quality of life for today by
learning from those who came before us.” JFD
Prehistoric excavation at Edgewater Park. Archaeology begins with ques-
tions about the human past and draws
upon science, history, and oral tradi-
tion in seeking the answers.
Archaeology truly is “not just what we find,
but what–and how–we find out” (based on an
original quote by David Hurst Thomas).
Lynn M. Alex
