Archaeology and History

• The study of past human life as revealed by preserved relics

• Archaeology can give us some clues about civilizations for which we have few or no historical records, but archaeology’s main strength lies in uncovering and clarifying

the history of civilizations for which we do have historical records.

Internal test

• In the internal test we must see if the Doc. in question contradicts itself.

• Some phrases in the Doc. may seem like contradictions so, we must use Aristotle’s Dictum.

• The benefit of the doubt is to be given to the Doc. Itself, not assigned by the critic to himself.

External test

• The test makes sure that the Doc. In question contradicts other works of history.

• The older the Doc., The more important the external test becomes.

Bibliographic Test

• To be a reliable doc. The work must contain either direct eyewitness accounts or a second-hand report based on eyewitness accounts.

Relative Dating and the Principle of Superposition

• The most reliable form of radiometric dating is carbon 14 dating method

• when archeologists use radiometric dating to determine the age of an object, the object has an absolute age.

• Radiometric dating is not a vary reliable dating method.• When artifacts are found in rock or earth that is layered

the deeper layers hold the older artifacts.• This is assuming that the layers were formed one at a

time.

Archaeology in the Absence of Historical Documents

• Although archaeology is of immense value in determining the validity of historical Doc. (after all almost every civilization leaves behind artifacts) we can learn a lot about ancient people through those artifacts.

• It is often difficult to provide an exact date for these artifacts .

• One way to find the date for these artifacts is if there is a known age: when a date is written on an artifact or referenced to in a reliable historical Doc. But usually there is no known age, thus we must use a different type of dating method such as, Dendrochronology or carbon 14, radiometric dating.

Made by Isaac and Emilee

The End……