Archaeology

Archaeology is the study of ancient human societies of which there are no written records.

Timeline

The following table refers to the so–called Three Age system, as described by Wikipedia. The dates for the Bronze and Iron ages are from Britannica. Note that this system was developed to describe the stages of prehistory in Europe, Africa and Asia. Dates for the more recent periods only really apply to Europe.

All of these dates are of course approximate, and should be used with care if setting quiz questions. The safest option might be to ask the other way round. For example: "Which archaeological period lasted from approximately ... to ... ?"

Period		Began (years ago)		Ended (years ago)		Duration (years)
Lower Palaeolithic		3.3 million		300,000		3 million
Middle Palaeolithic		300,000		50,000		250,000
Upper Palaeolithic		50,000		12,000		38,000
Chalcolithic (a.k.a. Copper Age)		12,000		4,300		7,700
Bronze Age		4,300 (2,300 BCE)		2,700 (700 BCE)		1,600
Iron Age		2,700 (700 BCE)		2,000 (1 BCE)		700

The Stone Age began at the time when Australopithecus – the earliest genus of ape from which humans are descended but chimpanzees and bonobos are not – began using stone tools. It ended when the last Ice Age began to release its hold.

Homo habilis ("handy man") came along about one million years into the Stone Age, and persisted for about another million years. He declined around the middle of the Lower Palaeolithic period (1.5 million years ago), and was followed by Homo erectus. Then came Neanderthal Man, and finally (about 200,000 years ago – around the middle of the Middle Palaeolthic period) Homo sapiens.

The beginning of the last Ice Age, about 110,000 years ago, marks the beginning of the end of the Middle Palaeolithic period. As already noted, the end of the Stone Age is dated to the time when the ice began to recede – about ten to twelve thousand years ago. (The Ice Age took up about the last 3% of the Stone Age.)

In geological time, the Stone Age began in the mid–to–late Pleiocene epoch. Not long afterwards, in geological terms (around 2.5 million years ago), this gave way to the Pleistocene, whose end coincided with that of the Stone Age.

The time from then onwards, up to the present day, is known in geological time as the Holocene epoch. In archaeological time, two–thirds of this is taken up by the Chalcolithic period – characterised by the increasing use of smelted copper. The Chalcolithic period gave way to the Bronze Age around 4,300 years ago (2,300 BCE).

The cave paintings at Lascaux are about 16,000 years old. They were made towards the end of the Ice Age – which, as we now know (if we didn't know before), was in the very late Stone Age.

People

US Senator and explorer, 1875–1956: discovered Machu Picchu in 1911		Hiram Bingham III
Howard Carter's sponsor in the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb		Lord Caernarvon
Archaeologist who discovered Tutankhamun's tomb, 1922–3		Howard Carter
French classicist and linguist, 1790–1832: deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics by translating the Rosetta Stone; generally regarded as the father of Egyptology		Jean–Francois Champollion
The excavation of the Palace of Minos at Knossos (on Crete) was led by		Sir Arthur Evans
German archaeologist and former businessman (1822–90), who made it his mission to discover a historical basis for the works of Homer; excavated Hisarlik, now presumed to be the site of Troy, and believed (probably falsely) that he had discovered the grave of Agamemnon at Mycenae in 1876		Heinrich Schliemann
18th century antiquary who incorrectly attributed Stonehenge to the Druids (1740)		William Stukeley
Led excavations at the Iron Age hill fort of Maiden Castle, in Dorset, in the 1930s; became a household name in Britain in the 1950s through his TV and radio appearances, particularly on the historical panel game Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?		Sir Mortimer Wheeler

Other

Two temples built by Rameses II, moved in 1968 to save them from being submerged behind the Aswan Dam		Abu Simbel
The 56 pits that form one of the outermost circles of Stonehenge (but the innermost circle of the earliest phase of building) – named after the 17th century antiquarian who is thought to have identified them		Aubrey holes
Name given to the culture that flourished in central Mexico from around 1300 – during the so–called Post–Classic Period of what Wikipedia refers to as "the archaeology of the Americas": the 'Triple Alliance' between three of their city–states was conquered by the Spanish under Cortes in 1521		Aztec
Diverse 'archaeological culture' of prehistoric western Europe, including Britain (c. 2800–1800 BC) – named after their characteristic pottery drinking vessels		Beaker people
Mayan site in Yucatan, Mexico, abandoned 1200 AD: includes the Temple of Kukulkan ('El Castillo'). (Kukulkan is the Mayan name for Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent.)		Chichen Itza
Discovered in the ruins of Babylon in 1879; bears a declaration in the name of the first Persian (Achaemenid) ruler, regarded by some as the first declaration of universal human rights (a view rejected by others as anachronistic)		Cyrus Cylinder
Qumran Texts (found at Qumran, Jordan, 1947–56)		Dead Sea Scrolls
Large block of sandstone standing in the Avenue, outside the main entrance to Stonehenge – close to the main road		Heelstone
Ancient city excavated by Kathleen Kenyon, 1952–8		Jericho
Complex of ruined temples near Luxor, Egypt – the world's largest ancient religious site – famous for the Hypostyle Hall with its 16 rows of columns (134 in total) – constructed between the 16th and 3rd centuries BC		Karnak
Inca city (Peru) discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham III		Machu Picchu
Iron Age fort near Dorchester, excavated by Sir Mortimer Wheeler		Maiden Castle
Granodiorite slab (previously described as basalt or granite), which enabled Egyptian hieroglyphics to be decoded: found in 1799 in the Egyptian port now known as Rashid, by Pierre–Francois Bouçhard, an officer in Napoleon's army		Rosetta Stone
Bears a Ptolemaic decree of 196 BC in Egyptian hieroglyphics, demotic Egyptian script, and Greek, which was translated by Thomas Young and Jean–Francois Champollion; housed since 1802 in the British Museum
Neolithic henge and stone circle on Mainland, Orkney: Britain's northernmost stone circle, and said to rank along with Stonehenge and Avebury as the greatest of them		Ring of Brodgar
Name given (in the media) to the circle of oak posts on the beach in the village of Holme–next–the–Sea, Norfolk, constructed in the early Bronze Age (21st century BC), exposed by coastal erosion and excavated in 1998 (apparently known to locals for decades previously)		Seahenge
The largest hoard of Anglo–Saxon treasure ever found (valued at £3.285 million) was found in 2009 (in the parish of Hammerwich, near Lichfield), and named after		Staffordshire
Archaeological site, donated to the UK government in 1918 by Cecil Chubb		Stonehenge
Anglo–Saxon burial site in Suffolk (dating from the 7th century AD) where a treasure–laden boat was excavated in 1939		Sutton Hoo
Discovered in 1974 outside the Chinese city of Xi'an: funerary art guarding the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China (259–210 BC)		Terracotta Army
Carthage was adjacent to the site of modern		Tunis
Ephesus (site of the Temple of Diana) and the archaeological site of Troy are in		Turkey
UNESCO World Heritage Site on the West Bank of the Nile in Egypt, opposite Luxor (ancient Thebes): location of the tombs of many pharaohs, including Tutankhamun and Rameses II		Valley of the Kings

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24