| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Significant new data can be obtained using these techniques, which has the potential to alter the understanding of the past. A good example of this is the so-called " Second radiocarbon revolution ", which significantly re-dated European prehistory in the 1960's (the first radiocarbon revolution was the original introduction of the method to archaeology).
As indicated, one of the most important applications of archaeological science has been the absolute dates it can provide for archaeological strata and artefacts. Some of most important of these are:
However, archaeological science has been applied in many other ways. A variety of methods have been used to analyse artefacts, either to determine more about their composition, or to determine their provenance. These techniques include:
The use of remote sensingIn the broadest sense, remote sensing is the measurement or acquisition of information of an object or phenomenon, by a recording device that is not in physical or intimate contact with the object. It is the utilization at a distance (as from aircraft, sp has enabled archaeologists to identify many more archaeological sites than would otherwise have been possible. The use of aerial photographyAerial photography is the taking of photographs from above with a camera mounted on an aircraft, balloon, rocket, kite or similar vehicle. Aerial photography is used in cartography, land-use planning, studies of the environment, espionage and other fields remains the most wide-spread remote sensing technique, but this has been supplemented by the use of satellite imagerySatellite imagery are photographs of Earth or other planets made from artificial satellites. First satellite photographs of Earth were made in ???? by ?????. First satellite photographs of the Moon were made in ???? by ????. In 1972 the United started the, especially with the declassification of images from military satellites.
Techniques such as lithic analysisIn archaeology, lithic analysis is the analysis of stone tools using basic scientific techniques. Lithic analysis involves measuring various physical aspects of stone tools as well as observing the tool type, its characteristics, the presence features suc, paleobotanyPaleobotany is the branch of paleontology dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use in the reconstruction of past environments. It shares some common ground with palynology. Plant remains are fou, palynologyPalynology is the science that studies contemporary and fossil palynomorphs, including pollen, spores, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, chitinozoans and scolecodonts, together with particulate organic matter (POM) and kerogen found in sedimentary rocks a and zooarchaeology are also sub-discplines of archaeological science.