What is archaeology?
Archaeology is the study of the past from the physical remains that people left behind. It
is different to history because history is mainly looking at books. What kind of things do
you think people left behind?
There are three main types of archaeological remains. There are artefacts (objects made
by humans); buildings; and changes to the earth (like wells, ditches, mounds etc…).
Artefacts
Figure 1: Saucer brooches from Dinton Saxon cemetery
Artefacts can tell us about what people were cooking with and eating, what kind of work
they did, what they wore, whether they were violent and what they believed in amongst
other things. Here is a table of examples of what artefacts can tell you about. Look up any
words you don’t know in the glossary.
Food
Animal
bone
Oyster
shell
Cooking
pots
Work
Metalworking slag
Clothes
Brooches
War
Spears
Religion
Crucifixes
Preserved wooden
plough
Needles
Pins
Arrowheads
Figurines
Preserved leather
shoes
Musket
balls
Funerary
pottery
What is archaeology?
Monuments
Figure 2: Bowl barrow in Lowndes Park, Chesham
Changes to the earth can tell us about what kind of houses people lived in as well as how
they were cooking, what kind of work they did, whether they were violent and what they
believed in. We have provided some examples of what different types of monuments could
tell you about. Look up any terms you don’t know in the glossary.
Houses
Post-holes
Ring-ditches
Beam-slots
Food
Ridge-andfurrow
Hearths
Ovens
Work
Ridge-andfurrow
Storage pits
Kilns
War
Hillforts
Religion
Henges
Castles
Ringworks
Shrines
Barrows
Buildings
Figure 3: St Peter and St Paul church, Burnham
What is archaeology?
Buildings can tell us about what kind of houses people were living in, sometimes they can tell
us about what kind of work people did, and what they believed in. Write down here what
types of buildings or things inside buildings could tell you about these subjects:
Houses
Country house
Cottages
Flats
Work
Workhouses
Factories
Offices
Religion
Churches
Non-conformist chapels
Stone circles
How old?
Figure 4: Palaeolithic hand-axes from Buckinghamshire
Archaeologists in Suffolk have found artefacts that date to 700,000 years ago! Do a search
on the Unlocking Buckinghamshire’s Past website to find out what the oldest artefacts ever
found in Buckinghamshire is and write a selection here (Tip – look for artefacts dating to
the Lower Palaeolithic; this is the name given to the earliest time when humans came to
Britain).
People are dropping things that will become archaeological artefacts all the time! Coins,
litter on the streets and rubbish in rubbish tips are the archaeological artefacts of the
future.
People didn’t really start digging into the earth and making earthworks until the Mesolithic
(c. 8000-4000 BC), a time when small groups of people hunted animals, fished and gathered
wild nuts and fruit. However, the period straight after that, called the Neolithic (c. 4000 –
2200 BC), is when humans started digging a lot. This is because they took up more of a
farming lifestyle and started to build big religious monuments. Different periods have
different earthworks.
What is archaeology?
These are some of the different types of monuments that you get in different periods.
Look up any terms that are unfamiliar in the glossary.
Period
Neolithic
Bronze Age
Iron Age
Roman
Saxon
Medieval
Long barrows
Round barrows
Hillforts
Camps
Burhs
Ridge-and-furrow
Earthworks
Causewayed enclosures
Henges
Cross-ridge-dykes
Amphitheatres
Moats
Not many buildings that were built before the Norman’s conquered England in AD 1066 have
survived but there are a few. Most of our buildings date from the nineteenth and twentieth
century. A lot of the older buildings are protected and are called listed buildings because
they are on a big list recorded by English Heritage. There are 5719 listed buildings in
Buckinghamshire. Do a search to find the oldest listed buildings on the Unlocking
Buckinghamshire’s Past website and write them here (Tip – do an advanced search for listed
buildings from 500-1065 AD):
Figure 5: All Saint’s church, Wing
What is archaeology?
There are difficulties with using archaeological evidence. Read through these statements
below and circle the ones you think are true:
It is sometimes hard to work out
what archaeological remains are.
We know that men did the work,
women cooked and children
played.
Without writing it is hard to
work out what archaeological
remains mean.
We can always work out why
people did things in the past
from looking at archaeology.
www.buckscc.gov.uk/archaeology
It is always easy to work out
what archaeological artefacts
are.
We don’t know who built, made or
dug things. It could have been
men or women or children.
We don’t need writing to know
what archaeological remains
mean.
We can’t always work out why
people did certain things in the
past from looking at archaeology.