Classical vs Contempory Archaeology

[Nick Setten]

Hey all,

I'm in the great NW of the USA, and have been wrestling over my academic future. I've been keenly interested in archaeology since graduating with a BA in Ancient History, and am now looking to the future. Which gets me to the crux of my question: What, in your experience/knowledge is the difference between Classical, and for lack of a better term, Contemporary Archaeology?

[Belinda Hutton]

Hey Nick
Let me try...... (but I cant guarantee Im right as even I find the boundaries rather fuzzy!)

The contemporary side of things focuses on our more recent past (i.e. the last two centuries). It really is a type of Historical archaeology (which basically covers the last 5000 odd years) and uses and introduces its own theoretical models to explain the past. Its really more of an anthropological approach because it often utilises anthropological material culture studies and basically is centred on generalised social, geographical and political studies of what can be called the modern world. In plain english it deals with the very recent past and not the past past past!

Classical really for me is also to do with the last 5000 years but focusses entirely on the regions of Greece, Rome, Near East etc. (ancient mediterranean) It does also rely on written documentation mostly, but also will encorporate neolithic time periods given the areas it covers (crete, rome, Minoan civilisation etc).

Hope that helps - but you will probably find, given your Ancient History major, you will cover both classical and contemporary approaches no matter what you do!

Cheers
Belinda

[Nick Setten]

Belinda -

Thanks so much for the insights. Is there a very large gap between methodologies in these two fields (is that even applicable? ;)) ?

[Cristian Olariu]

Sometimes yes. The contemporary archaeology is more oriented on photographs, archives, registration of sites. It is less centered on "digging" than the classical one. i.e., you cannot dig in a XIX-th century factory :). But sometimes, such as in the case of say, XVIII th century site, the methodologies are quite the same.
I hope this helps.

[Anjanette]

"Classical" archaeology centers on the ancient world, basically Rome, Greece, Egypt (with its subfield), Mesopotamia, etc etc. What you basically studied and got your degree in. Historical archaeology usually is classified as 1492 to the present worldwide. Prehistoric archaeology is before the written word, anywhere in the world. One of my professors graduated with a BA in Classical Studies, and went on to write a book on Roman military camps, teach at several different universities, and work in the financial sector. He is a top mind in Latin and Ancient Greek translation, and also has a degree in archaeology and astronomy. It doesn't matter where you start, it's what you do along the way, he says all the time.

Contemporary archaeology is within the past 150 years, as it became less of a "hobby" for bored aristos and more of a science (see Junius Bird). Both history and archaeology would never have become areas of concentration since Gibbon sat in the Forum, but the more scientific archaeology becomes, the more it needs history to "humanize" it in some ways.

Hope this helps!