Archaeology and science

In studying archaeology much emphasis is laid on the understanding of archaeological culture which
has been defined by Lewis Binford as an ‘extra-somatic means of adaptation’ by early humans. Thus
in the prehistoric times as well as today man exploits his surrounding for his survival. In the same
manner any artefact encountered by archaeologist has to be studied in its entirety, thus requiring
help from disciplines such as physics, chemistry, and psychology in order to create a complete
picture from the conception of an artefact till it is discarded. Archaeology since its conception has
relied mainly on earth sciences such as geology and later with the scientific advents post Second
World War has taken aid from other scientific disciplines. The earlier approaches in pre
independence Indian archaeology had mainly centred on the cultural historical approach and culture
at the global scale was still being measured according to material wealth of the excavations as
superior or inferior. With the coming up of New Archaeology much emphasis was laid on a scientific
approach while studying culture and utilisation of scientific techniques. Thus it was this time that
archaeology was considered by many scholars to be at par with scientific disciplines

What is science?

According to Wikipedia, “Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in
the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe”. Thus simply anything that can
be tested and proved in a manipulated environment is science. Science studies the universe and the
natural laws that operate and govern the trajectory of all that space encompasses. As mentioned
already archaeology heavily relies on scientific disciplines to reach a better understanding of the
past. Science determines the laws that govern existence and thus these laws are universal, but in
archaeology what may have been in the past may not repeat itself today, though its remnant prevail.
For example we know that early humans used tools made of stone for a purpose such as chopping
down a tree, but with the coming of technology and mechanization one may use chainsaw and do
the same with little effort and time, still the need for wood remains. Thus it is in this way that
material culture progresses as science develops. Thus along with science, Utilitarian approach of
social sciences is also required to understand the past human behaviour. The concept of culture can
be understood through social science as culture contains many subsystems such as manufacturing,
trade, hierarchy and much more. Thus archaeology relies both on science as well as social sciences
to understand the past.

Archaeology as Science

It was with the coming up of New Archaeology which later synthesised as Processualism, that Lewis
Binford one of its main proponents had considered that Archaeology could be developed as a pure
science and asked others, engaged in the same field to be more scientific in their approach. His
conception was based on the principle that artefacts do not speak for themselves thus require
interpretation on the part of the archaeologist, thus alike scientists, archaeologist formulate
hypothesis, collect data, test the data and summarize the results. In contemporary world
archaeology relies heavily on many sub disciplines including pure sciences, though scholars argue
application of science simply cannot make a subject ‘science’.
Processualism and its beginning

It was in the mid 20th century that scholars like Joseph Caldwell highlighted the role of climatic
studies and ecosystem in reconstructing the past. As it was understood that the external
environment affected the material culture of man the study of paleo-climate was given its
importance. Emphasis was also laid on the process of cultural change, and change in material culture
was studied in relation to changing external conditions. There also was emphasis on applying
scientific approach to the study of archaeology and using of scientific techniques such as carbon
dating. Thus after the Second World War not only technological innovations came up but also
approaches to study this hoard of data came along. This academic change is termed as New
Archaeology and later as processual theory.

Archaeology and allied scientific disciplines

 Earth sciences
Under this broad heading disciplines that study the process of earth and rock formation are
included. Thus, Geology, Environment studies and the interaction between man and his
environment is studied.
i) Geology
The scope of geology in studying the human past is immense. The findings of faunal, Human
remains from a geographical strata give insights for archaeologist to understand evolution
and the environment. Under geology stratigraphy, sediment analysis, petrology,
geochronology, deep sea core analysis contribute immensely to establishing antiquity and
understand man-environment relationship.
ii) Environmental Archaeology
This discipline usually pursued by earth scientists, studies the paleoenvironment and the
method of procurement and utilisation of the natural resources. In order to understand this,
sediment analysis, pedological study and an idea of the paleo-environment is necessary.
Here the subsistence, settlement and change in culture is made clear by conducting the
above studies. A catchment analysis showing location of natural resource also adds to the
understanding of the region.

 Biology

i) Botany

The study of plants their spread, consumption and domestication is important to understand
past human movement and behaviour. It is generally believed that the Levant or the Fertile
Crescent was one of the first agricultural zones, where humans began cultivation
deliberately. Thus in order to understand the first process of domestication and its further
spread to south asia, it’s important to understand the discipline of botany. Later with the
development of archaeology and scientific methods the method of studying plant remains
could be studied through seeping analysis.
 ii) Zoology

The study of man and its relation with environment in its broadness also includes the
relation between man and animal. It is generally understood that early man transitioned
from multiple stages that of, scavenging, hunting and later domestication. This is true in case
of animals. Not only for consumption but the presence and absence of animals in/from a
particular geographical area shows the scope of human interaction with former. Thus we
have species in the north such as the bison that has been extinct due to reckless hunting and
migratory animals that govern human movement. Through a better understanding of this
discipline we also understood the process of domestication and what osteological changes
occur through the process of domestication. Thus we can now differentiate between a bone
of a domesticated and wild species animal.

iii) Bio-Anthropology

The study of the physical stature and bone development is the main subject matter of Bio
anthropology, the discipline was said to have created a racial-ideological divide during its
early days, though now such biases have been corrected. This sub discipline under
anthropology tries to understand the changes that occur in humans as a species resulting
from spatial differences, affected by growth and their causes. The presence of pathological
traits, their causes can be discerned by studying burial remains. For Example lack dental
hygiene of the mature Harappans is said to have been common from the study of burials.

 Application of Physics and Chemistry

The need for application of pure sciences is immense in the understanding the past, most of
these applications require on the part of the researcher well versed knowledge and awareness
regarding the concept and methods. These applications are conducted under proper laboratory
conditions and require time and resources, thus it is also important on the part of archaeologist to
scrutinise the results carefully.

i) Dating methods

Absolute dating requires application of scientific aids, and a proper and a proper
knowledge regarding the lab work. The various methods to derive absolute dates differ according to
the sample chosen. Thus Carbon dating, Potassium Argon dating, thermoluminescense dating are
applied to do date a charcoal, bone, and pottery/soil sample respectively. Although due to scientific
development we have such methods to acquire these dates still, these dates cannot be accepted on
their face value and thus it is also required on the part of the archaeologist to support the data with
relative dates. The presence of fluorine and phosphate in bones can also tell us the date of burial of
thatspecific skeleton
 ii) Metallurgical studies

As early as the Harappan and chalcolithic cultures, provide evidence for the use of copper
and gold for utilitarian and ornamental purposes. In order to understand the method of
manufacturing and its circulation we have to have a better understanding of their metallic
composition. This is where the metallurgical studies come to the aid of archaeologist. Thus by
studying the metal composition of an artefact we can tell about the source of the procurement of
the metal, we can also discern the level of expertise from the slug by deriving the temperatures the
hearth reached to absolve the metal from impurities.

iii) Chemical analysis

The major applications of scientific aids in understanding the archaeological remain is to date them
and in cases of metal to understand their metal composition. In some cases when any artefact is
coated with a layer of patina due to exposure to weathering, it is cleaned using chemicals in
laboratory. The level and nature of activity and duration period can also be known from soil samples
taken from a site

 Survey and Recording

The survey and recording of sites also requires archaeologists to take aid from the discipline of
geology in order to procure data such as satellite imagery, aerial photography and understand land
use and cover. Such images are required to locate ancient structures such as tanks, mounds and
paleo water channels.

i) GIS

The method of aerial photography was conceived in WW 1 period when allied planes used to take
aerial photos in order to locate enemy artillery and camps; it was after the cold war that these
images were given access to archaeologist and geologists. Thus it was from this period that aerial
photography gained importance in locating sites and understanding their distribution and
development. In case of Harappan culture one can easily locate and differentiate between early and
mature harappan sites due to the distance between them and their sites. We can also locate the so
called ‘satellite sites’ to understand and locate the agricultural units that supported the large towns.

Sub disciplines within archaeology

Through its dependence on the allied subjects archaeology has made these disciplines as its very
own and thus has created a niche of archaeologists specialised in their own sub fields. These may
range from ethno archaeology, zoo archaeology, and linguistic archaeology. These sub disciplines
approach the subject the matter through the lens of antiquity and add to the general knowledge
about human past and behaviour.
Reference

 epgp.inflibnet.ac.in
 K. Rajan, 2016, Understanding Archaeology: Field Methods, Theories and Practices, Mano
Pathippakam, Thanjavur, TN, India