An Introduction to Archaeology: What is Archaeology and Why is it Important?
Summary
TLDREste video de World History Encyclopedia, presentado por Kelly, explora la arqueología, su importancia y las tecnologías utilizadas en las excavaciones modernas. Desde la definición de arqueología como el estudio del pasado humano a través de la cultura material, hasta la introducción de métodos y herramientas avanzadas como Lidar y Radar de Penetración Subterránea (GPR), el video ofrece una visión detallada del desarrollo de esta disciplina a lo largo del tiempo. También destaca a algunos de los arqueólogos más famosos y sus hallazgos, resaltando la relevancia de la arqueología para comprender nuestra sociedad y el legado de las civilizaciones pasadas.
Takeaways
- 📚 La arqueología es el estudio de la historia humana a través de los objetos materiales que dejaron atrás.
- 🌟 La curiosidad por el pasado humano es antigua, con figuras como Khaemwaset y Nabonidus considerados precursores de la arqueología.
- 🔍 La arqueología se entrelaza con disciplinas como la historia y la antropología, pero se enfoca en la evidencia física para entender el pasado.
- 🏺 Los arqueólogos examinan desde objetos pequeños como cerámica hasta estructuras grandes como pirámides y templos.
- 🚀 La arqueología moderna ha evolucionado en sus preguntas, métodos y tecnologías para excavar sitios de manera menos destructiva.
- 🌐 Lidar y GPR son tecnologías modernas que ayudan a mapear y explorar sitios arqueológicos sin dañar el terreno.
- 🗝️ La excavación arqueológica ha cambiado drásticamente en los últimos cien años y continúa mejorando.
- 🏰 La primera excavación arqueológica en el Nuevo Mundo se realizó en la Pirámide de la Luna en Teotihuacan.
- 🎩 William Cunnington, Howard Carter y otros pioneros desarrollaron métodos arqueológicos que se siguen utilizando hoy en día.
- 🏛️ La arqueología nos ayuda a comprender nuestra sociedad y la raza humana a través de la historia, incluso cuando no hay registros escritos.
Q & A
¿Qué es la arqueología según la definición más amplia posible?
-La arqueología es el estudio del historia humano a través del material cultural que se ha dejado atrás.
¿Cómo se relaciona la arqueología con otras disciplinas como la historia y la antropología?
-Mientras que los historiadores se centran en la evidencia escrita de la historia y los antropólogos estudian a la humanidad, los arqueólogos se centran en el historia humano contado a través de la evidencia física que quedó.
¿Qué es un sitio arqueológico y cómo ha cambiado la forma en que se excavan estos sitios a lo largo del tiempo?
-Un sitio arqueológico es cualquier lugar donde los seres humanos hayan dejado evidencia de su presencia o actividades. La forma en que se excavan estos sitios ha cambiado mucho en los últimos cien años, y se espera que continúe desarrollándose y mejorando.
¿Qué es Lidar y cómo se utiliza en la arqueología moderna?
-Lidar es un acrónimo de 'Detección y Medición de la Distancia con Láser' y se utiliza la tecnología de escáner láser aéreo; estos sensores láser emiten pulsos de luz y se miden cuánto tiempo tardan en reflejarse de vuelta al instrumento, lo que se utiliza para crear un mapa del área escaneada.
¿Qué es el Radar de Penetración Terrestre (GPR) y cómo ayuda en la excavación arqueológica?
-El GPR envía ondas radio al suelo y los señales reflejadas, su intensidad y velocidad se registran en una computadora y esto se utiliza para construir una imagen de lo que sucede bajo la superficie, incluyendo diferentes profundidades.
¿Quién es considerado el primer arqueólogo y por qué?
-El primer arqueólogo considerado es el Rey Nabonidus de Babilonia, quien organizó y dirigió excavaciones en Mesopotamia en alrededor de 550 a.C. en su búsqueda de las ruinas del Imperio Acadio.
¿Cuál es la importancia de la excavación arqueológica y por qué es esencial para entender nuestra sociedad actual?
-La arqueología es crucial para entender el presente, nuestra sociedad y la raza humana tal como somos hoy, sin entender de dónde venimos y quiénes vinieron antes. La arqueología puede resaltar lo poco que hemos cambiado, especialmente cuando no hay registros escritos o solo desde la perspectiva de la élite.
¿Qué descubrimientos arqueológicos son considerados revolucionarios y por qué?
-Descubrimientos como la tumba intacta de Tutankhamun por Howard Carter o las excavaciones sistemáticas y documentación de Flinders Petrie son revolucionarios porque proporcionan una visión detallada de la vida y la cultura de civilizaciones antiguas.
¿Qué tecnologías se han desarrollado recientemente para evitar la naturaleza destructiva de la excavación arqueológica?
-Tecnologías como Lidar y GPR han sido desarrolladas para minimizar la destrucción durante la excavación, permitiendo la creación de mapas detallados de áreas y la identificación de estructuras subterráneas sin la necesidad de excavar.
¿Qué figuras históricas se mencionan en el guion como ejemplos de pioneros en la arqueología y qué aportaron a la disciplina?
-Figuras como Khaemwaset, Nabonidus, William Cunnington, Howard Carter, Flinders Petrie, Arthur Evans, Heinrich Schliemann, Harriet Boyd Hawes y Leonard Woolley se mencionan como pioneros que contribuyeron con métodos de excavación, documentación y descubrimientos significativos en la arqueología.
Outlines
🕵️♂️ Introducción a la Arqueología
El primer párrafo introduce el tema de la arqueología, explicando su importancia y la tecnología utilizada en las excavaciones modernas. La narradora, Kelly, menciona que la arqueología es el estudio del pasado humano a través del material cultural que se ha dejado atrás. Se destaca que el interés en el pasado humano es antiguo, citando ejemplos de figuras históricas como Khaemwaset y Nabonidus. La arqueología se relaciona con otras disciplinas como la historia y la antropología, pero se enfoca en el estudio de la historia humana a través de la evidencia física. La narradora también habla sobre cómo ha cambiado la forma en que se excavan los sitios arqueológicos y menciona tecnologías como Lidar y GPR para minimizar el impacto destructivo de las excavaciones.
🏺 Tecnologías de Escaneo y Excavaciones Arqueológicas
El segundo párrafo profundiza en las tecnologías de escaneo como Lidar y GPR, explicando cómo funcionan y cómo han revolucionado la forma en que se llevan a cabo las excavaciones arqueológicas. Lidar es una tecnología de escáner láser que permite crear mapas detallados de áreas sin necesidad de excavar, mientras que GPR usa ondas de radio para revelar detalles de lo que hay bajo la superficie. Además, se mencionan algunos de los primeros intentos de excavación en el Nuevo Mundo y en Pompeya, Italia, y se destaca la importancia de la excavación científica iniciada por Thomas Jefferson. Se presentan a varios arqueólogos famosos y sus logros, como William Cunnington, Howard Carter, Flinders Petrie, Arthur Evans, Heinrich Schliemann y Harriet Boyd Hawes, quienes han contribuido significativamente al avance del campo.
🔍 Importancia de la Arqueología en la Comprensión del Pasado
El tercer párrafo aborda la razón por la cual la arqueología es esencial para comprender el presente y el pasado humano. La narradora explica que la arqueología nos ayuda a entender cómo hemos cambiado a lo largo del tiempo y cómo las evidencias materiales pueden revelar información sobre la vida cotidiana de las personas comunes, así como sobre eventos a gran escala como guerras y sequías. Se hace un llamado a la reflexión sobre las grandes descubrimientos arqueológicos y se invita a los espectadores a compartir sus opiniones en los comentarios. Finalmente, se promueve el canal y el sitio web de World History Encyclopedia, y se agradece a los espectadores por su atención.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡arqueología
💡Khaemwaset
💡Nabonidus
💡Lidar
💡GPR
💡excavación arqueológica
💡Howard Carter
💡Flinders Petrie
💡Arthur Evans
💡Heinrich Schliemann
Highlights
考古学的历史可以追溯到古埃及和美索不达米亚。
考古学是通过遗留下来的物质文化来研究人类历史。
古代文化中的神话往往与宇宙和人类的起源有关。
考古学与历史学和人类学等其他学科紧密相连。
考古学家专注于通过物理证据来讲述人类历史。
考古遗址可以是任何人类留下存在或活动证据的地方。
现代考古学的发展体现在提问方式、所需方法和挖掘技术的进步上。
Lidar技术通过空中激光扫描来映射地形和发现遗址。
GPR技术帮助考古学家决定在哪里挖掘,揭示地下不同深度的情况。
考古学揭示了古代文明如何应对战争和干旱等挑战。
考古学帮助我们理解社会、政治和经济结构的演变。
考古学通过物质遗物揭示了古代普通人的生活。
考古学通过挖掘和分析物质文化来理解人类历史。
考古学家使用各种技术来最小化挖掘的破坏性。
考古学的发展不断改进,以更好地保护和理解历史遗址。
考古学通过挖掘揭示了古代文明的生活方式和挑战。
考古学对于理解我们的社会和人类种族至关重要。
考古学通过物质文化的研究,帮助我们理解古代文明。
Transcripts
Did you know that archaeology dates back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia?
Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia! My name is Kelly and today's video is all about
archaeology; what it is, why it's important and some of the technologies used in modern-day
archaeological excavation. Don't forget, the easiest way to support us is by giving this video
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Let's start off with answering the question "what is archaeology?" In the broadest definition
possible, archaeology is the study of human history through the material culture left behind.
The desire among human beings, the knowledge of what came before, has always been there; just look
at ancient cultures who often have myths relating the beginning of the universe and the human race.
Ancient people also engaged in archaeological studies, as in the case of Khaemwaset,
who lived circa 1281 to circa 1225 BCE, the fourth son of Ramesses the Great who
is known as the first Egyptologist for his efforts in preserving the past of his people.
The Neo-Babylonian King Nabonidus who ruled between 556 and 539 BCE is considered the first
archaeologist for organising and directing excavations in Mesopotamia in circa 550 BCE,
in his search for the ruins of the Akkadian Empire that ruled some 1,500 years before his time.
This interest in human history is not new and the practice of archaeology is closely
intertwined with numerous other disciplines such as history and anthropology. Where historians
focus on written evidence from history and anthropologists undertake the study of humanity,
archaeologists focus on human history as told through the physical evidence left behind
including artefacts like pottery, tools, human remains, cave art, coins, figurines and jewellery,
and larger things like the pyramids, tombs, temples and domestic architecture.
Archaeology is an ever-developing field and this development is seen through knowing
what questions to ask, what methods are needed to answer those questions,
and the technology and methods employed for the physical excavation of sites. An archaeological
site is any place where human beings have left evidence of their presence or activities. This
could be as small as a broken piece of pottery or as large as the site of Pompeii in Italy.
The way archaeologists have excavated sites has changed so much over the last hundred years and
will no doubt continue to develop and improve. When you think of archaeology, you probably think
of a dusty dig site where people look in the ground using shovels and trowels and brushes,
right? Well, the act of digging into the ground in order to uncover something is not
only time consuming and at high risk of missing something, it is in and of itself destructive,
but some of the forward-thinking developments in modern archaeology have been made to avoid
the destructive nature of excavation as much as possible. This includes Lidar which stands for
Light Detection and Ranging and is basically the use of airborne laser scanner technology;
these laser sensors emit pulses of light and how long these pulses take to reflect back to the
instrument is measured. Those measurements are plotted with the use of GPS and then that data
can be used to create a map of the scanned area. Lidar is used to map topography and find sites;
it can pick up surface anomalies that wouldn't be visible to the naked eye and has successfully
located ancient sites and thousands of archaeological features in a fraction of the time
it would have taken otherwise while being far less destructive. Another incredibly handy tool that
makes up for what Lidar can't do is GPR or Ground Penetrating Radar. GPR can help you decide where
to dig, where to avoid, and basically gives you a detailed picture of what's going on underneath the
surface. It sends radio waves into the ground and the reflected signals, their strength, and
speed are recorded on a computer and this is used to build a picture of what's going on underneath
the surface, including different depths. This geophysical technology can reveal details hidden
deep underground, and with the ability to show different depths, you can see different occupation
levels of a single site without having to dig. GPR technology has meant that entire cities hidden
beneath the earth have been entirely mapped out and architectural features like theatres, temples,
domestic spaces, and even plumbing can be identified using the technology.
In 1675, a tunnel was dug by Carlos de Siguenza y Gongora into the Pyramid of the Moon, a temple at
Teotihuacan, and this is considered the first archaeological excavation of the New World,
even though we don't actually know what was found. Following this, in the 18th-century,
researchers headed to sites like Pompeii in Italy and initiated excavations there,
although they weren't considered proper excavations until the 19th century. However,
the first scientific excavation in archaeological history is credited to Thomas Jefferson, the third
President of the United States, who lived between 1743 and 1826. Jefferson dug into a burial mound
on his property in Virginia in 1784 and approached his excavation carefully and in such a way that he
could identify different layers in his trench, but just because he is considered the first doesn't
make him the most famous, since there are other things Jefferson is remembered as - like being a
president. So who are some of the most famous archaeologists and what did they discover?
Well, first in England we have William Cunnington, who lived between 1754 and 1810,
who developed many of the archaeological methods used later and even up to the present day. Many
archaeologists all over the world, have benefited from Cunnington's pioneering work and the
following are only a few of the best known. In the region of Egypt, we have Howard Carter who
lived between 1874 and 1939 who was an English Egyptologist and is best known for his discovery
of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922. Tutankhamun was a pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt,
who died when he was only 19 years old. The reason this particular discovery was so groundbreaking
was the fact that the burial was completely intact, which means that no grave robbers ever
raided it for the wealth that was left inside for the young pharaoh to take to the afterlife.
Another famous British Egyptologist is Flinders Petrie, often called the father of archaeology,
he lived between 1853 and 1942. Petrie was an archaeologist who focused on meticulous
excavations and was intent on documenting and collecting every single little thing he found,
which modern-day archaeologists thank him heartily for. Petrie excavated both in
Egypt and in Palestine and really pioneered the systematic excavation and documentation of finds.
Working on the Aegean Bronze Age in Crete was the British archaeologist Arthur Evans
who discovered the labyrinthine remains of the Palace of Knossos. Within the remarkable ancient
site was large pithoi for storage, detailed and colourful frescoes and thousands of clay tablets,
although Evans' excavations shed light on the civilization that he coined as the Minoans,
he also made some questionable decisions in the restoration of the site using concrete and
had artists recreate some of the frescoes with a bit more creative license than he ought to have.
Another big name in Bronze Age archaeology is Heinrich Schliemann who coined the term
'Mycenaean' in 1876. Schliemann was a German businessman and amateur archaeologist who
excavated the site of Hisarlik in Turkey, which is now believed to have been the ancient city
of Troy, as well as the Mycenaean sites of Mycenae and Tiryns on mainland Greece.
Schliemann pretty much attacked the sites he worked on and destroyed much in his quest to find
the ancient cities Homer described in his epic poems. Before Evans discovered the Minoan site of
Knossos though, the American archaeologist Harriet Boyd Hawes, who lived between 1871 and 1945,
discovered the Bronze Age site of Gournia, which was the first Bronze Age site to be unearthed.
She spent three years excavating the site and published her finds in an illustrated report
with remarkable classification of artefacts that is still consulted to this day. Looking to
Mesopotamia, there was Leonard Woolley, a British archaeologist who lived between 1853 and 1942 and
is best known for his excavation of the ancient Sumerian city of Ur in Mesopotamia. Woolley is
one of the first modern archaeologists, along with Flinders Petrie, to approach his excavations in a
methodical way, all while taking careful notes as he made discoveries. The British archaeologist,
Kathleen Kenyon, who lived between 1906 and 1978, was an incredibly influential archaeologist of
the 20th century who excavated two important sites in the Near East: Jerusalem and Jericho.
Why do we do this? Why have people for thousands of years already been interested in digging up
what has been left by those that came before? One of the biggest reasons is that it's pretty
difficult to understand the present, to understand our society, and the human race as we are today
without understanding where we've come from and who came before us. Archaeology in particular
can highlight how little we have changed, especially when there are no written records
or written records only from the perspective of the elite. Material remains of homes and shops
and workshops from ancient cities can show how the ordinary people lived and hardships that
they may have faced, and that we may still face today. This can also be seen on a larger scale
in how wars were fought or how droughts affected a civilization four thousand years ago, and how
they dealt with that and adapted to it. As Paul Bahn, a British archaeologist has noted: "little
did ancient people suspect that the garbage they discarded would one day be resurrected
by these scientific rag and bone merchants." And that's exactly what archaeologists strive to do;
to understand the social, the political, and the economic structures of people and civilizations
long since lost, based on the artefacts, even simple garbage, that they left behind. What
do you think is the greatest archaeological discovery of all time? Let us know what you
think in the comments down below! If you enjoyed this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up
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