Archaeology
Archaeology is the science that studies human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data. Archaeology includes architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains and landscapes. The goals of archaeology are to document and explain the origins and development of human culture, understand culture history, chronicle cultural evolution, and study human behavior and ecology, for both prehistoric and historic societies. In the Old World, archaeology has focused mostly on the study of physical remains. It also studied the methods of recovering physical remains and the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings in achieving the subject's goals. In some parts of the world, archaeology is more commonly devoted to the study of human societies and is regarded as one of the four branches of anthropology. The other three branches are cultural anthropology, linguistics and physical anthropology. Cultural anthropology studies behavioral, symbolic, and material dimensions of culture. Linguistics studies language, including the origins of language and language groups. Physical anthropology includes the study of human evolution and physical and genetic characteristics. Other disciplines also supplement archaeology, including history, art history, classics, geography, geology, paleontology, paleozoology, paleoethnobotany, and paleobotany. Archaeology is an approach to understanding human culture through its material remains. Traditional archaeology is viewed as the study of pre-historic human cultures, that is, cultures that existed before the development of writing for that culture. Historical archaeology is the study of cultures with some form of writing. In the study of relatively recent cultures by Western scholars, archaeology is closely allied with ethnography. There is no single theory of archaeology, and even definitions are disputed. Until the mid-20th century scientists believed that archaeology was closely related to both history and anthropology. The first major phase in the history of archaeological theory is commonly referred to as cultural history. It was developed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the 1960s, a number of young, primarily American archaeologists, such as Lewis Binford, rebelled against the paradigms of cultural history. They proposed a "New Archaeology", which would be more "scientific" and "anthropological", with hypothesis testing and the scientific method very important parts of what became known as processual archaeology. In the 1980s, a new movement arose. It is known as post-processual archaeology. However, this approach has been criticized by processualists as lacking scientific rigor. Archaeological theory now borrows from a wide range of influences, including neo-Darwinian evolutionary thought, phenomenology, postmodernism, agency theory, cognitive science, Functionalism, gender-based and Feminist archaeology, and Systems theory.
4 Find in the text the English equivalents to the following Russian words:
письменность; подход; человеческие останки; движение; дополнять; аргументы; посвящать; относительно недавние культуры; определения; гипотеза; тесно связаны с; множество; цели
5 Give the Russian equivalents to the following English words and phrases:
environmental data; the origins and development; physical remains; achieving the subject's goals; dimensions of culture; rebelled against; evolutionary thought; is commonly referred to; scientific rigor
6 Answer the following questions:
1) What does archaeology study? 2) What are the aims of archaeology? 3) What was archaeology focused on in the old world? 4) Archaeology was considered to be one of four branches of some science. What science it was? 5) What were the other three branches? 6) What human cultures are called pre-historic? 7) What cultures does historical archaeology study? 8) Do any theories of archaeology or definitions exist? 9) What did American archaeologists proposed in the middle of 20th century? 10) Why was post-processual archaeology criticized by processualists?
7 Complete the following statements:
1) The goals of archaeology are……….. 2) In some parts of the world archaeology is regarded as………… 3) Cultural anthropology studies……….. 4) Physical anthropology includes the study of……….. 5) Archaeology can help to understand……….. 6) Historical archaeology studies………… 7) Lewis Binford rebelled against…………. 8) Cultural history was developed……….. 9) Traditional archaeology is viewed as……….. 10) New Archaeology used a method which was known as………..
8 Express your agreement or disagreement with the following statements:
1) Archaeology studies prehistoric societies. 2) In the past archaeology was concentrated on studying physical remains. 3) Archaeology has always been an independent discipline. 4) Nowadays archaeology is added by art history, geography, geology, paleontology, paleozoology, paleoethnobotany, and paleobotany. 5) Chronology plays an important role in understanding human culture. 6) Both traditional archaeology and historical archaeology study prehistoric human cultures. 7) American archaeologists didn`t accept traditional archaeology. 8) Today archaeology still doesn`t have exact definitions and borrows from different sciences.
9 Retell the text.
UNIT 8 1 Read and learn the following words:
2 Read the words in the bold types. Pay attention to the pronunciation and the stress. Translate them into Russian. 3 Read the text.
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