the scientific study of material remains, esp artefacts and dwellings, of past human life and activities
Literally ‘discourse on ancient things’, archaeology is the study of the human past through the systematic recovery and analysis of material culture. The discipline aims to recover, describe and classify this material, to describe the form and behaviour of past societies, and to understand the reasons for this behaviour. It has become a truly interdisciplinary subject, drawing on expertise from many other fields — Dr Paul Bahn
archaeologic adj
archaeological /-ʹlojikl/ adj
archaeologically /-ʹlojikəli/ adv
archaeologist noun
[French archéologie via late Latin from Greek archaiologia, from archaeo- + -logy]