About Me & This Blog

Hi there! Welcome of a site dedicated to the wonderful and crazy science of archaeology.

Here's a little bit about me...

I am in my final year of study for a BA in archaeology at Simon Fraser University, in Burnaby BC, Canada. I have always loved ancient things and am a self-proclaimed history geek. I'm studying archaeology because the act of researching and findings out new things about ancient peoples and cultures is just way to awesome of never do!

Now, over the years I have found out that there are a few certain reactions that people will have when  tell them what I study. Three of the most common responses that I get are... 1st "So you dig up dinosaur bones?" (FYI that's paleontology, not archaeology). 2nd their eyes will light up and they'll say something to the effect of "That is so interesting" and their minds turn to Indiana Jones (who, FYI is NOT a good archaeologist).

 The 3rd reaction is they get an expression and look in their eyes that just screams,"Oh honey. That's not a real thing." This is the reaction that gets to me the most.

Archaeology is a very real, very in demand part of the social sciences. It is the study of past humans and their culture through the things that have been left behind (called material culture). Archaeology is a sub-discipline of anthropology (which studies human culture) and often works in connection with history, geography, biology and other sciences.

The reason archaeology is needed is because it can reveal more information about the past than any other sciences. Researching history is great, but it is limited to the documents that humans have written about themselves. Archaeology digs the past up, and can therefore look at many different aspect of the past culture rather than just what was written about them (written records can be very prejudiced).

 And yes, there is a lot of demand for archaeology. Its not just working for museums or universities (which do create a lot of jobs). Archaeology is also used by the forestry, mining, and hydro industries, as well as city development.
So, that's why I am doing this. I am going present information about archaeology, what it is and what it does, so that you, the readers, can get a better knowledge of archaeology. I hope to make archaeology more relevant and accessible to the public.