Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos

Archaeology: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

News •

New LED technology helps archaeologists uncover details invisible to the naked eye • Nov. 7, 2026, 6:51 AM ET (Jerusalem Post)
Seeds, preserved hair in tomb point to oldest signs of cannabis high 2,800 years ago, study suggests • Nov. 5, 2026, 5:59 PM ET (Boston Herald)
3,300-year-old sword discovered in an Italian lake may have been dumped there on purpose — and it's still sharp • Oct. 28, 2026, 5:27 PM ET (Live Science)
Archaeologists recreated 8,000-year-old stone sickles to learn what early farmers were growing • Oct. 21, 2026, 10:37 AM ET (Earth.com)
The World’s Oldest Shipwreck? Maybe, but ‘We’re All Excited by Maybe.’ • Oct. 16, 2026, 4:49 PM ET (New York Times)

Facts

Also Known As archeology

Photos and Videos

Pachacamac, Peru
The video thumbnail image shows a white woman walking by a wall that says "You are on Native land."
Exploring the world's oldest known gold mine
Experience the archaeological excavations of the Undo Cave, a paleolithic site in Georgia
Learn about the archaeological excavations of a 19th-century prison site on Spike Island, with a focus on the daily lives of ordinary convicts
Diving into the mystery of a 2,000-year-old shipwreck
See All Videos and Images →

Related Topics and References

Topics
Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

default image
Robert J. Braidwood
American anthropologist
Schliemann, Heinrich
Heinrich Schliemann
German archaeologist
Sir Flinders Petrie, detail of an oil painting by George Frederic Watts, 1900; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Sir Flinders Petrie
British archaeologist
Winckelmann, Johann
Johann Winckelmann
German art historian
Zahi Hawass and Barack Obama
Zahi Hawass
Egyptian archaeologist and official
Richard Leakey
Richard Leakey
Kenyan anthropologist, government official, and paleontologist
Louis S.B. Leakey
Louis Leakey
Kenyan archaeologist and anthropologist
Hiram Bingham
Hiram Bingham
American archaeologist and United States senator
George Smith
George Smith
British Assyriologist
default image
Gene Savoy
American explorer and religious leader
default image
John Garstang
British archaeologist
Sir Arthur Evans
Sir Arthur Evans
British archaeologist
default image
William Kelso
American archaeologist
default image
Sir Mortimer Wheeler
British archaeologist
default image
John Lloyd Stephens
American archaeologist
default image
Carl Blegen
American archaeologist
default image
Harriet Ann Boyd Hawes
American archaeologist
default image
Geoffrey Wainwright
British archaeologist
default image
Hormuzd Rassam
Assyriologist
Howard Carter wearing a suit, bow tie, and tall top hat, poses for a formal portrait.
Howard Carter
British archaeologist

Related Quizzes

Three flint axes from the stone age. (prehistoric, tools, early humans, culture, archaeology, implements)
More Archaeology: Digging and Scraping Quiz
The caves of Qumran on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, in the West Bank. The site of the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were first discovered in 1947.
More Archaeological Discoveries Quiz
Ancient Egyptian carving of Pharaoh Seti I holding his flail before the god of the underworld Osiris with Horus behind him. Abydos Temple, Egypt. Ancient carving, on public display for 2,000 years
Archaeology: Great Discoveries Quiz