This is my fandom, studying and writing sideblog, because you have to draw the line SOMEWHERE and my main blog is already full to the brim with alll kinds of stuff without adding all this to the mix. You can find me on AO3, under the pseud LittleMissOverlord, where I try my best to be funny and entertaining. Don't hesitate to drop an ask or a request if you have one!
The word “Archaeology” (from the greek archaiología) is a compound word put together from the (greek again) archaós, meaning old, and lógos, meaning knowledge or teaching. So, a rough “translation” of the word archaeology could be “the science of old things”.
Archaeology in general is more or less the umbrella term for any kind of science that deals with the human past. This includes prehistoric archaeology, archaeobotany & archaeozoology, classical archaeology, underwater archaeology, medieval archaeology, the archaeology of terror, geoarchaeology, mining archaeology, and many more. Almost every method, time period, and geographic location has its "own" archaeology. The common denominator for all archaeological sciences is the study of material culture and the dig as means to gather data.
Where does archaeology end and history begin?
This is a much-debated question…in Germany. Since everyone outside of Germany sees archaeology as a subarea of anthropology anyways, there is no other conflict about, say, the validity of medieval digs in England I am aware of.
The theory is: A culture falls under the jurisdiction of us archaeologists if it falls into the category prehistory, and historians are responsible for everything else (which is history). The difference between prehistory and history is the existence of widespread written language and/or written history. The theory is: Written history develops over time.
I've taken Central Europe and made you all a very rough example timeline:
Quite nice, right? So in theory, archaeological jurisdiction in Central Europe ends neatly just before the early middle ages, when Christianity had spread wide enough that people began writing about themselves as not-Romans. Notice any problems with this theory? Like...what about the people living in Central Europe at that time that didn't write about themselves? Like farmers, or common people?
Because archaeology deals primarily with material culture, a lot of groups in medieval society that rarely show up in writing make up a lot of our work, and this is one of the main arguments for archaeology past the point of written history. Another is that shards don't lie - oftentimes, archaeological expeditions dig up churches, money or other incriminating evidence in places where historical records are adamant they shouldn't be.
But even though medieval archaeology is becoming more and more accepted in Germany, it still stands on very shaky ground. The further towards the present we go, the hotter the debate around the meaningfulness of archaeological work gets. What's the sense in examining a monastery with unbroken written records from establishment to abandonment? Why dig up the remains of a farmhouse built 15xx AD when there's one still standing two miles over that we could just visit?
And once we're past the middle ages it's more of the same. Is it even still useful to dig up ceramics that are barely 200 years old? What information can we possibly gain from a dig or the occupation with material culture past, say, 1900, when we even have people alive today that can just...tell us what happened?
Personally, I think that archaeology and the occupation with material culture are always worth the while, provided you go at it with an actual research question that can't be easily answered by a historian (if I was really mean I'd say history is too important to be left to the historians). Also I can absolutely understand that very few people want to get involved with modern archaeology, because living in Europe, especially Germany or Eastern Europe, you will get asked to dig up a mass grave.
Where do archaeologists work?
I think the common misconception about where we work is that we get to pick our site. Obviously, to study past human activity there needs to have actually been past human activity at a site, but in absolutely most cases- as in over 90% of the cases- we don't actively go looking for it...we wait until someone wants to build a house, or a city wants to redo a marketplace, or a water pipe bursts and something gets brought to the surface. It's the law that if some kind of prehistoric material is found while digging...any kind of hole, basically, us archaeologists have to dig up the rest and the person (or company or city) responsible for the hole has to pay for it. This usually results in terrible time pressure and really bad documentation. Also land developers hate us.
Since Europe has been populated by humans for literal hundreds of thousands of years, there is barely any space left where you can't find anything if you just dig deep enough. Especially in the borders of the Roman Empire you're pretty sure to find a little bit of terra sigilata, or a few amphoras, or a shoe nail, or maybe a small villa rustica pretty much wherever you look.
In the rare case when a dig is organized only for research (usually by a university or the Landesdenkmalamt [Federal office for (the preservation of) monuments]), the location of sites can be pretty diverse! Because these digs tend to take A LOT more time than the "grab what you can they're pouring cement tomorrow" kind, they tend not to be directly in the city, but they can also be at places you wouldn't build a house, like caves, farmland or forests.
Basically, if you're in Europe and you're asking yourself where the archaeology is? You're probably standing on it.
Do you all secretly want to be Indiana Jones?
No. The only thing desirable about Indiana Jones is the hat.
(Picture references under the cut)
Bell Beaker from Ciempozuelos, Spain. Attribution: José-Manuel Benito Álvarez. Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vaso_Campaniforme_Ciempozuelos.jpg
Inscription of Trajan's Column. Link: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Inschrift_der_Trajanss%C3%A4ule.jpg
Page from the Dresdner Sachsenspiegel. Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dresdner_Sachsenspiegel,_4_fol.jpg?uselang=de
A: Welcome to Night Vale! I'm really not one for podcasts or audiobooks unless I'm driving, which is...never. I just can't focus on anything else while I'm listening, and I don't have the patience to do nothing while I listen! Welcome to Night Vale is the exception to that rule, because listening to an episode is part of my nighttime ritual. When I get to the last episode, I start over again; I think I'm on my third or fourth listen!
Favourite episodes:
11- Wheat and Wheat By-Products
13, 45, 109, 130 - The "A Story About..." series
35 - Lazy Day
60 - Water Failure
100 - Toast
109 - A Story About Huntokar
Most impressive story arc:
The Devil arc, coming to it's conclusion with Episodes 89 & 90 "Who's a Good Boy" Pt. 1 & 2
TF when your prof offers you a job over WhatsApp while simultaneously complaining about the weather ruining any and all plans for fieldwork for the whole month
I decided to put together a list of questions to be answered throughout the month of February because honestly I haven't felt motivated enough to make new posts and this seems like a great opportunity. So! if you'd like to, feel free to join in on the challenge!!
Info / Rules!
The challenge will last the whole month of February and contains 28 questions, one for each day.
Please reblog this post if you plan to do the challenge!
When you post, tag it as '#february productivity challenge' so I can track, see and reblog the posts and studyblrs participating :)
You don't have to post daily so don't pressure yourself too much on it. You can always do catch-up posts!
If you have any questions feel free to hop into my inbox!
Prompts!
Day 1: What’s your favourite podcast?
Day 2: What are you reading right now?
Day 3: What's your nighttime routine like?
Day 4: What would you describe your study method as?
Day 5: What's the most recent thing you've dreamt?
Day6: What are your current top 5 songs?
Day 7: What was your favourite band 5 years ago?
Day 8: Is there someone you recently got acquainted with? How did you meet them?
Day 9: Have you been anywhere recently for the first time? How was the experience?
Day 10: What's your daily, weekly and monthly planning method? How detailed are you with it?
Day 11: What’s a piece of random trivia that you know?
Day 12: What’s your favourite family tradition?
Day 13: Do you like video games? What's a game you've wanted to play for a while? What's the last game you've played?
Day 14: What's a youtube channel you really like?
Day 15: When you hang out with friends, what do you usually prefer to do?
Day 16: What's something you would like to make if you had the time and/or skill?
Day 17: What’s your favourite place you’ve ever visited?
Day 18: What’s the best advice you’ve received and consciously try to follow?
Day 19: What's your go-to take out?
Day 20: If you made a youtube channel, what would it be about?
Day 21: What's something you've wanted to take a deep dive into but haven't got the time to yet?
Day 22: What are your favourite colour combinations?
Day 23: What's a gift you'd give to someone if you don't know them all too well?
Day 24: What's your favourite beverage?
Day 25: What does your ideal breakfast look like?
Day 26: What's the cosiest place in your mind right now?
Day 27: If you did a room revamp, what all would you change? What's an aesthetic you would like to incorporate in it?
Day 28: What's your favourite stationery that you own?
TF when your prof offers you a job over WhatsApp while simultaneously complaining about the weather ruining any and all plans for fieldwork for the whole month
hey :D I just found your Veilchenlila fic on ao3 and it's giving me life! I was just wondering, if you plan on finishing it? No pressure, tho!
Omg I'm so happy you did!!! And YES I'm definitely planning on finishing it - the next chapter isn't going to be up in QUITE some time yet because uni has been kicking my ass lately - but it's planned! It's in my head! I just need to get it down on paper, so I hope you have the patience to wait a few more...months, probably 😬.
Presentation I did for a Prof who listened to my ideas vs presentation I did for a Prof who literally sent me about 2 000 words on Outlook why everything I wanted to do with the topic was shit. Am I getting my revenge via deliberatetly ugly PowerPoint while still following her instructions to the letter? Yout betcha! Also please ignore my ugly censoring it's the best I could do on mobile.
📻 Song of the day: My Chemical Romance - Cemetery Drive
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