antiquarians are interested in THINGS for intrinsic values aesthetic or monetary value archaeologists are interested in what those things can tell them about the past context is as important or more important than the artifact pseudo archaeology superficially resembles science doesn t follow scientific method begins with belief and assembles bits of proof ignores things that don t agree with belief often involve outlandish claims about supernatural beings Erich VanDaniken occam s razor explanation or hypothesis requiring the fewest assumptions should be tested first archaeological methods often mundane tedious painstaking detail oriented gather data to test hypothesis survey find and record sites excavations lab work archaeology western scientific understanding of the past other viewpoints and beliefs about the past religious beliefs traditional narratives goals of archaeology stewardship conserving and managing sites for future generations culture history space and time to reconstruct long sequences reconstructing past life ways ways people made living explain culture change ultimate goal archeology tries to answer human response to climate change role of humans in altering and managing past environments factors that precipitate social inequality and socio political complexity origins of human cognition symbolic expression language learning etc new techniques absolute dating techniques chemical sourcing of raw materials biomolecular techniques environment reconstruction remote sensing cid 127 GIS data management and sharing brief overview of human prehistory 100 thousand years ago anatomically and behaviorally modern humans AMH or homo sapiens develop in Africa 2 5 million years ago homo habilus Africa oldowan tools 1 8 million years ago homo erectus evolved in Africa some populations expanded into other parts of the world 1 4 million years ago controlled use of fire maybe 200 thousand years ago neanderthals evolve in Europe 70 thousand years ago early evidence for symbolic thinking S Africa 40 thousand years ago AMH in Europe paleolithic cave art 30 thousand years ago neanderthals extinct 15 thousands years ago humans in Americas 10 thousand years ago earliest agriculture Middle East 5 thousand years ago first writing system Mesopotamia earliest civilizations cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127