| Archaeology is the study of the human past from its | | | | accurate. |
| material remains, and therefore can make use of | | | | Doesn't history tell us enough without archaeology? |
| every conceivable subject in both arts and science. | | | | Since history is almost exclusively concerned with the |
| This factor gives it wide appeal and allows everyone | | | | written word there are limits to the information that it |
| to be involved. | | | | can provide. In many periods of the past, literacy was |
| However, it also inevitably means that nobody can | | | | uncommon and reserved for a few sectors of society |
| "know it all". Much confusion seems to arise over | | | | - typically (in Western world, for example) priests and |
| archaeology's relationship to history which, although | | | | the rich. As a result history often strongly reflects the |
| also a wide-ranging study of the past, is (for periods | | | | preoccupations of these groups and is generally |
| prior to the 20th century) primarily concerned with the | | | | uninformative about the rest of the population. |
| written word. History forms the basic framework of | | | | Many written records survived by chance and others |
| study since the past is divided into prehistoric (before | | | | exist only in copies that were made in later times; |
| history) and historic periods. | | | | some exist only as fragments. Some written material |
| When did history begin? | | | | was kept in libraries in Constantinople (Byzantium, now |
| Historical dates are provided by documentary sources, | | | | Istanbul) and became more widely available after the |
| which (obviously) presuppose the use of writing. | | | | fall of the city to the Turks in 1453. There are |
| However, not all writing can be proven to represent | | | | however, very few surviving original records of events |
| words or sentences and not all societies with writing | | | | in Britain during the Roman period or its immediate |
| used it to record events - sometimes it was used for | | | | aftermath. Even where copies survive, information has |
| magical purposes. | | | | sometimes been added or deleted by the copyist to |
| Writing has been found on many different materials - | | | | serve a particular purpose, or perhaps to try to make |
| papyrus, paper, stone, metals, pottery, vellum and | | | | sense of material that seemed incorrect. It is often |
| wood - and was developed independently in different | | | | impossible to prove whether the record is reporting a |
| parts of the world. | | | | true occurrence. |
| Writing seems to have been pioneered in | | | | As a result there are many gaps in historical evidence, |
| Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) in the 4th millennium BC. In | | | | by period, or intent, type or survival. However, because |
| Europe, although some tablets with unintelligible | | | | of the differences in raw material, it is rarely possible |
| markings were found in a pit at La Tartaria in Romania, | | | | for history and archeology to provide evidence for the |
| dating from circa 4,500 BC, these are now seen as | | | | same aspects of society, even for periods with a |
| connected with cult activities. If this is interpretation is | | | | large of written material. |
| accepted, no writing was employed in Europe until the | | | | Archaeology is therefore of special importance in |
| rise of the Aegean civilisation of Bronze Age Greece | | | | studying remote, non-literate or semi-literate periods for |
| and even then, the tablets in the scripts known as | | | | which there are few or no written records. Increasingly, |
| Linear A and Linear B (which date from circa 1600 BC | | | | archeology is used to study aspects of life in |
| and earlier) provide information that remains enigmatic. | | | | well-documented periods that were simply not written |
| In Britain, the first certain historical date is 55 BC, the | | | | about directly (for example, the daily life of ordinary |
| year in which Julius Caesar crossed the Channel, | | | | people). |
| writing a detailed account of his campaigns and | | | | Archeology routinely throws light on aspects of the |
| descriptions of his adversaries. Where it has been | | | | past on which documentary sources are largely silent, |
| possible to cross-check his accounts (for example at | | | | such as technology or types of everyday objects that |
| Alesia where the Gaulish leader Vercingetorix was | | | | were in use in particular communities. |
| finally besieged), they have been seen to be usefully | | | | |