The science dealing with ancient civilizations: Archeology is the study of the human past through the recovery and analysis of material remains.

As people search for their origins, archeology provides insights into our shared heritage.

The branch of anthropology that studies past human behavior through the physical remains of the past: Archeology is the study of the human past through the recovery and analysis of material remains.

As people search for their origins, archeology provides insights into their shared heritage.

• In the absence of written records, archeology provides a prime channel for the understanding of human societies and cultures.
• Archeology can complement written or historical sources.
• The recovery of the past has involved the removal of layers of earth to look back in time.
• Archeology is more than digging Iron Age sites or uncovering Maya temples in the jungles of Central America, or studying rock art in Australia's Norther Territory.
• Archeology involves teams of science-based archeologists who analyze bones, seeds, pottery, and metalwork.
• Archeologists learn from anthropologists, who study living societies, since they can suggest social structures or economic patterns for societies that have not left behind written records.
• Humans have probably been curious about the past for centuries because such interest can be traced as far back as the first civilizations of Mesopotamia and China, which left records of ancient remains.
• From the 16th century onward, Europeans began studying ancient monuments and forming collections of antiquities where famous sites were visited, painted, and described for those at home.