Marine Archaeology
Ethnoarchaeology
"Ethnoarchaeology is the use of ethnologic (anthropological) data from living groups as an analogy for understanding people of the past."(1) In other words, ethnoarchaeology is the study of the ethnic characteristics of modern societies, in order to better understand, and make inferences about past societies and how they may have lived.
Marine archaeology is the study of past human activity as it relates to our interaction with the sea, or other bodies of water. Examples of human interaction with the sea could be anything from shipwrecks, ancient civilizations that are now submerged, and sunken infrastructure.
Environmental archaeology focuses on understanding how changes in the environment over time affected ancient civilizations and their way of life. Environmental archaeologists look to see if changes in the environment caused cultural changes within certain socieites, or if these ancient societies were just forced to adapt. (2)
Experimental archaeology is the study of attempting to understand past human activity by replicating or reenacting the practices that ancient civilizations were believed to use. For example, to better understand the ways in which past societies constructed buildings, experimental archaeologists would attempt to contruct a building using the same techniques believed to be utilized by past humans.
Environmental Archaeology
Experimental Archaeology
Sub-disciplines of Archaeology
On this page I will highlight a few major sub-disciplines of archaeology. These sub-disciplines define a more precise focus and set of goals, while under the main overarching goal of archaeology.
Text sources:
(1) http://archaeology.about.com/od/eterms/g/ethnoarchaeol.htm
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_archaeology
Image credits:
(Top left) http://www.dayralbarsha.com/node/138
(Top right) http://marineinsight.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/cleopatra-1-thumb-425x283.jpg
(Bottom left) http://exarc.net/issue-2012-3/mm/interview-helmut-hugo-windl
(Bottom right) http://www.nature.org/cs/groups/webcontent/@web/@lakesrivers/documents/media/melting-ice-floating-490x250.jpg