Humans and its past are studied in archaeology. Archaeologists study the creation, use or change of things. Stone tools, hut dwellings, skeletons covered with gold jewelry and pyramids that rise from a desert floor are some of the material remains that they look at.

ethnoarchaeology is when archaeologists study modern societies to find out what happened in the past.

Archeologists help answer questions about who we are and where we came from by working with people from a variety of disciplines. Archaeologists find evidence that sheds light on our future.

For example, archaeological studies of how humans responded to previous instances of climate change can provide information on how future climate change will affect modern-day societies.

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The team wrote that the archaeology of climate change offers opportunities to identify factors that promoted human resilience in the past and apply the knowledge gained to the current.

Archaeologists are often considered to be part of a broader profession called "anthropology," which is the study of humans, early hominids and primate.

Archaeologists don't use bullwhips or revolvers like the fictional Indiana Jones, but they use a lot of technologies and techniques to solve mysteries of the past.

Anarchaeologist is a broad term. Professional archaeologists have developed expertise that allows them to specialize in the study of certain types of artifacts. There are many examples of underwater archaeology, textile analysis and the study of plant and animal remains. Archaeologists can develop language skills that will allow them to record and translate texts. These language experts don't call themselves archaeologists, but instead refer to themselves as Epigraphers or something related to the language that they study. Those who specialize in the study of human remains are often referred to as "physical" or "biological" anthropologists.

Here we see two people conducting an archaeological survey for a historic settlement in Central Park, New York. One person is using a ground-penetrating radar and the other is measuring out the site using a really long measuring tape.

Heather Atherton (R) and Meredith Linn use a ground-penetrating radar device during an archaeological survey of a vanished 19th century settlement named Seneca Village in Central Park on August 11, 2005 in New York City. This team of scientists are using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to survey parts of the site which was once home to as many as 260 mostly African Americans before they were evicted in 1856 when Central Park was created. (Image credit: Mario Tama / Staff via Getty Images)

New skills are developed by archaeologists as new technologies are introduced. New tools include lidar, a non-invasive way to map terrain that involves shooting millions of lasers from a machine on an aircraft flying over an area of interest, and ground-penetrating radar, a land based device that sends radio waves.

Egypt, China, and the Maya civilization in Central America are some of the places where archaeologists focus their studies. Specific timeframes may be focused on by them. An Egyptologist might focus on the Old Kingdom period when the pyramids were built.

The study of animals and plants is what archaeology is about. In order for an archaeologist to study a dinosaur fossil, they need to know if the fossil was used in the past by a human at the site.

Becoming a professional archaeologist

A master's degree is one of the degrees that professional archaeologists have. Howard Carter, the archaeologist who led the team that discovered Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, had little formal education.

There are a lot of universities with archaeology programs. Archaeology courses can be found in departments dedicated to anthropology, fine art, geography and classics.

A number of undergraduate archaeology programs offer only a small number of core archaeology courses and instead encourage students to branch out and take courses from across many other departments at a university, such as at the University of Toronto in Canada.

Scuba diver swimming through submerged ancient Roman building ruins with a big still intact stone arch.

Here we see a scuba diver swimming through submerged ancient Roman building ruins with a big still intact stone arch. Dragonara caves, Miseno. Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields), Naples, Campania, Italy. (Image credit: Antonio Busiello via Getty Images)

Archaeologists are able to work for many employers. The National Park Service, cultural resource management firms, tourism companies, and media companies are also included.

Opportunities for amateurs

There are many ways for people to get involved in archaeology. There are opportunities for volunteers to become involved in excavation and lab work.

People who are able to pay their own way to volunteer and help dig an archaeological site can often be found overseas. Some people can get course credit for volunteering.

Sometimes archaeologists work with a large number of members of the general public to help dig up a site.

The relinquishing of at least partial control of the project to the local community is one of the distinguishing characteristics of community achaeology. People in the community may be able to make decisions about what to dig.

Archaeologists' salary

It's difficult to give an exact salary range for an archeologist. An archaeologist with a senior management position at a university, government agency, large cultural resource management firm or large museum can make six figures. A junior field archaeologist who works for a small cultural resource management firm may make less money than a senior field archaeologist.

An archaeologist can make more money by publishing a book that sells well. Archaeologists don't say that they went into the discipline to make money.

What happens to archaeological artifacts?

Archaeologists don't sell the artifacts they dig. This wasn't always the case. Antiquarians excavated artifacts and sold them. In the past, museums, universities, galleries and private individuals would sometimes help pay the cost of a scientific archaeological excavation and in return would get a share of the artifacts.

There are only a few areas of archaeology where practices like these are still legal. Some places that don't have the money to pay for an underwater excavation will allow a salvaged site to be excavated. The salvaged items are sold by the company to make money. Lawmakers debate the practice of this practice.

The Elgin Marbles stolen from Greece. From left to right we see a horse, a namke Greek man leading the way, whilst looking back at the others. Then there's another horse. Next to the horse is a person, and behind the horse if a person clothed in a tunic and a child with cloth draped around their shoulders.

The Elgin Marbles are a collection of classical Greek marble sculptures (mostly by the Greek sculptor Phidias and his pupils), inscriptions and architectural members that originally were part of the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens. (Image credit: markrhiggins via Getty Images)

The United Kingdom has an exception where amateur metal detector users are allowed to search for artifacts. If a find is made of precious metal, it must be turned over to the government. If the find is not made of precious metal it is possible that the metal detectorist can keep it. Some archaeologists say that the use of metal detectors by amateurs is harmful to archaeological sites and impedes scientific investigations.

Archeologists from Europe and North America used to take artifacts from the countries where they worked. Some countries want to get the artifacts back. In the early 19th century, marble sculptures from the Parthenon were taken to Britain, and Greece has been lobbying for them to be returned.

There is a series of bronze and brass artifacts from Nigeria that were pillaged by British soldiers in 1897. According to The New York Times, some of them have been returned to Nigeria.

How did archaeology start?

Archaeology is a discipline that dates back thousands of years. Ancient societies kept old material and took steps to preserve sites they considered important. Efforts to preserve the Sphinx at Giza have been going on for over three thousand years.

Archaeology became more scientific as new methods were developed to record sites in greater detail and determine the age of artifacts.

Where does archaeology go from here?

New methods for studying the past have been included in the discipline. Professional and amateur archaeologists are able to survey large tracts of land in areas that are difficult to access, such as Iraq or Afghanistan, thanks to high-resolution imagery from the internet giant.

Future technological advances and where humans travel to in the future will affect where archaeology goes in the future. Archaeologists will increasingly work with physicists, biologists and other scientists to search for the remains of non-human civilization in which case archaeology will move beyond the study of humans.

There are a lot of programs and services at the Archaeological Institute of America. The Archaeology of the Western Hemisphere is one of the programs offered by the Society for American Archaeology. Programs and services geared towards archaeology in the Middle East are offered by the American Society ofOverseas Research.

Bibliography

Burke and his associates. There is a case for cultural diversity in the archaeology of climate change.

Y.Marshall Community Archaeology is something to ask. World Archaeology was published in 1982.

The original article was published on Live Science in March of 2014).