Researchers have released the results of carbon-dating done on human remains found at Stonehenge, one of the world’s most famous standing-stone circles.

Their results, they said, indicate that the sacred site was in fact a burial ground for an elite or royal family thousands of years ago.

“It’s now clear that burials were a major component of Stonehenge in all its main stages,” said Mike Parker Pearson, a professor of archaeology at the University of Sheffield in England, and the director of the Stonehenge Riverside Archaeological Project.

The radiocarbon-dating of the burnt remains indicates that burials were conducted at the site as long ago as 3000 B.C., and continued for about 500 years.

The remains had been excavated from the Stonehenge site in the 1950s and stored at a nearby museum. The discovery is significant because it is the first time any of the Stonehenge remains had been carbon-dated.

Parker Pearson read a statement to the press which said, “Stonehenge was a place of burial from its beginning to its zenith in the mid third millennium B.C. The cremation burial dating to Stonehenge’s sarsen stones phase is likely just one of many from this later period of the monument’s use and demonstrates that it was still very much a domain of the dead.”

But some Stonehenge experts are careful to point out that while it may have been used as a sacred burial site, that was by no means its sole function. Read the rest of this entry »

Study of ancient and modern human culture is known as archeology and a person who conducts research and excavation is known as an archeologist. An archeologist studies the lives of the people of the ancient world from the various scriptures, sculptures and the items that he excavates at a historical site. Apart from excavations, an archeologist also makes research investigations and tries to study the habits, farming and hunting practices of a civilization that had existed thousands of years back.

Careers in Archeology – An Overview

Archeology is a vast field and there are numerous career openings for fresh graduates with a major in anthropology or archeology, who want to pursue their career in archeology. An archeologist focuses his study on the archeological data such as artifacts, features, sites etc and directs his focus on a particular civilization or a particular community.

There are archeologists who focus only on interpreting the data collected from a particular excavation site. They base their interpretation on the basis of materials found on the site such as fragments of bone or clothing, potteries, building material and so on.

Physical Archeology – This is one of the most popular and upcoming branches in archeology. A physical archeologist studies about the human evolution and the habitual changes that are seen in human beings over the period of time. He also studies about the various diets and diseases that were seen in human beings of ancient world and also the modern world. Read the rest of this entry »

Archaeology is an academic discipline that deals with the study of past human life, in terms of behavior and culture. Those people who practice in the field of archaeology are known as archaeologists. Archaeology aims in correlating human culture, starting from the origin to the present. The past human societies are studied on the basis of material remnants (fossils) and human artifacts (jewelry and crafts) that are lying on or under the earth’s surface. Most of these archaeological information are collected through human impacts on the environment. By examining and analyzing such past evidences, the archaeologists try to reconstruct and interpret what had happened in the past human life.

Archaeology: Different Types

Archaeology is a multidisciplinary science that encompasses many academic subjects like biology, chemistry, geology, history and art. It is considered a branch of anthropology, which involves the study of biology along with human culture. Archaeology is different from paleontology (the study of fossils), as it deals only with the past life of humans. Let’s take a look at the different types of archaeology.

Archaeometry: Archaeometry, also known as archaeological science, deals with the study archaeology, along with the application of scientific methods and techniques. Some of the scientific techniques include radiocarbon dating, dendrochronology, artifact analysis, mathematical methods, remote-sensing, microscopes and environmental studies.

Classical Archaeology: Classical archaeology, in simpler terms, can be considered as the study of the most civilized cultures of the world, namely, the Greek and Roman civilizations. By investigating and researching on these two ancient cultures, a 2000 years span of the classical history can be studied. Athens and Rome form the main sites of study for classical archaeology. Read the rest of this entry »