.ARCHAEOLOGY

The usual definition is that it is the study of the past of human race using material remains. This is certainly true for all the earlier periods of archaeology, the prehistoric periods where no other evidence survives, but in the historic period, although purely material remains can illuminate areas which the documents cannot reach such as the peasant world or periods when historical documents were just not produced like the Migration (Saxon) period. It is necessary at other times for documents to be brought into the picture by the archaeologist. A good example where documents can often form the largest archive for a particular topic is that of medieval trade.
The earliest archaeological period, what is referred to as the Lower Paleolithic(from or connected with the early part of the Stone Age) period, starts off by looking for the time and place for the origin of humankind and the evidence is the remains of the human body itself, fossils, in fact. Finds of these bones in Africa in particular are helping to document the sequence of various types of early human species. So far there are a great many gaps in the sequence but the rough outline is pretty well known up to the appearance on earth of our own species, Homo sapiens sapiens.
Once this point is reached archaeology attempts to document the development of human societies. To be an effective study it must include all aspects of human activity and necessarily the archaeologist must be prepared to deal with a great range of topics embracing all human life at a particular period. This seems a pretty tall order and it is clear that above all the archaeologist must possess a far- ranging and open mind.
Archaeology is a scientific study and, like all sciences, must, in the words of Newton 'enquire dilgently into the properties of things' and 'to proceed more slowly to the explanation of them'. Note the 'proceed more slowly'. It involves formulating hypotheses, testing them, by experiment if possible, abandoning them when they are undermined by new data, formulating new hypotheses and in this way gradually approaching closer to the truth. Not that it will ever be possible in most cases to reach that objective.
But hopefully each new hypothesis and each new discovery will help to enlarge our knowledge of the past and it is this accumulation of innumerable tiny bits of information which is more likely to illuminate our understanding than a dozen tombs of Tutankhamun or Sutton Hoos or other spectacular finds. This is why the contribution of all who are interested in the past is so important whether they be professional and qualified archeologists, historians or local investigators.