what is a archaeologist

Archaeology is the study of the ancient and recent human past through material remains. Archaeologists analyze artifacts, features, and other information recovered in the field to help answer their research questions. They may specialize in a particular region of the world or a specific topic of study, such as human remains (bioarchaeology), animals (zooarchaeology), ancient plants (paleoethnobotany), stone tools (lithics), and technologies that find, map, or analyze archaeological sites. Archaeologists rarely excavate entire sites because it is a destructive science, meaning that once a site is excavated, it is gone forever. Instead, they excavate small areas and analyze the artifacts and information obtained. Archaeologists also have a professional responsibility to analyze all the artifacts and information obtained, to report on their research, and to curate the collections. Artifacts are important sources of information for archaeologists, as they can tell us about the diet, tools, weapons, dress, and living structures of people who made and used them. Archaeologists wash, sort, catalog, and store recovered artifacts after bringing them back from the field. Archaeologists may also study how the site they are analyzing relates to other sites. Archaeology is based on the scientific method, and archaeologists ask questions, develop hypotheses, use evidence to choose a dig site, then use scientific sampling techniques to select where on the site to dig, observe, record, categorize, and interpret what they find, and then share their results with others.