Archaeology

The systematic recovery and study of material evidence, such as graves, buildings, and tools, remaining from past human lives and cultures.

Resources in this category:

About.com: Archaeology
http://archaeology.about.com/

An Internet guide to archaeology, with feature articles, Website links, and discussion forums. Topics covered include methods, ancient civilizations, archaeologists, current digs, ethics & law, prehistory, theory, and academic resources for all levels.

Akhet Egyptology
http://www.akhet.co.uk/

Information about ancient Egypt, including Egyptian mythology, mummification, a list of kings (with biographical material), Egyptian art and sculpture, and an annotated guide to Egyptological Web sites.

Ancient Britain
http://www.britainexpress.com/articles/Ancient_Britain/

Map and descriptions of prehistoric sacred sites around Britain. Features such highlights as Avebury (site of King Arthur) and Stonehenge as well as many lesser known sites. You can click on the area of the map you are interested in or go to the sites by name. Site information is extensive and inludes historic information as well as a photo.

The Ancient Sites Directory
http://www.henge.org.uk/

Listings of archaeological sites all over Great Britain. The site provides photographs, descriptions and directions to all of the sites. The sites are divided up by county. You can view listings sorted by site type or by site name. The author has also provided further links to archaeological sites on the web as well as a bibliography of print resources.

Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials
http://www2.uiuc.edu/unit/ATAM/index.html

"Although its title - The Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials (ATAM) at the University of Illinois - may dredge up images of ballistas, questions of how did they build the pyramids anyway, and such, this place is really about more prosaic but nonetheless fascinating studies involving archeometry, a fusion of archeology, art history, museology, and the natural and physical sciences. This is an informative, professional resource that provides a fascinating and realistic glimpse into the real-world work of those involved in deciphering the past using modern scientific methods. The site proffers pottery provenance, unwraps details about the World Heritage Museum's very own mummy project, gazes into a Chinese bronze mirror, examines a Chinese Kuel bowl and Etruscan slags, and forges into archeometallurgy, the study of ancient metallurgical processes. All in all, there is lots to unearth here. "

Anthropology in the News
http://www.tamu.edu/anthropology/news.htm

Links to free news stories published on the web, organized by broad topic (breaking news, archaeology, bioanthropology, social/cultural, lingustics).

Archaeological Adventure
http://library.thinkquest.org/3011/indexge.htm

This is a very good overview site for information on archaeology. It is not too technical and would be good for information for kids. There is a glossary of frequently used archaeological terms, a photogallery, links to other sites, information about digs, as well as articles and forums about archaeology. You can choose to view it with or without graphics.

Archaeology Data Service
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/

"The aim of the Archaeology Data Service (ADS) is to collect, describe, catalogue, preserve, and provide user support for digital resources that are created as a product of archaeological research. The ADS also has a responsibility for promoting standards and guidelines for best practice in the creation, description, preservation and use of spatial information across the AHDS as a whole." This site contains a catalog of resources related to archaeology of the British Isles. Also has policy documents and ADS publications related to digital resources and archaelogy.

Archaeology Info
http://www.archaeologyinfo.com/

This site includes a glossary of archaeology and anthropology terms, featured links and an overview of human evolution including pics of famous hominid skulls and fossils.

Archaeology: An Introduction
http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/kevin.greene/wintro/

An "electronic companion to Archaeology : An Introduction - an introductory book about archaeology for students, or anyone else who would like to start learning about the subject. The book is by Kevin Greene, a senior lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Newcastle in the UK." This site is full of excellent links to academic resources and includes a glossary

ArchNet
http://archnet.asu.edu/

"Provides access to archaeological resources available on the Internet. Information is categorized by geographic region and subject." Part of the WWW Virtual Library.

BBC - History - Vikings
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/

Check out artifacts from the British Museum, learn about Viking religion, and spend a day on a Viking farm.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization
http://www.civilization.ca/

"The Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation (CMCC), a Crown Corporation, was established in 1990 by the Canadian Museums Act. The CMCC comprises two national museums: the Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC) and its affiliate, the Canadian War Museum (CWM). Today, the CMC and the CWM care for upwards of 4 million artifacts. The Museum of New France, dedicated to furthering the knowledge of the history of New France, takes the form of a virtual museum." This site provides a way to tap into the historical and archeological resources of the Museums of the Corporation. Includes an extensive collection and a virtual tour.

Capitolium.org
http://www.capitolium.org/

An official source of information on the archaelogical site of the Imperial Fora (forums) in Rome. A close look at the civilization of ancient Rome, including information about the emperors and daily life. Includes a virtual tour.

The Christian Catacombs of Rome
http://www.catacombe.roma.it/

"This site is intended for people who wish to deepen their knowledge of the Christian Catacombs of Rome and of the Church history in its origins. The site provides extensive material, in separate sections, dealing with this fascinating and largely unknown topic." Available in English, Italian, German, Polish, French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, and Korean.

Collapse: Why Do Civilizations Fall?
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/collapse/

"Join us as we explore the collapse of four ancient civilizations. You'll learn what happens when a society collapses and how archaeologists find and interpret evidence." With this evidence and information you can find out what it means for modern civilizations and what can be learned from the past. The four civilizations explored are the Mayans, Mesopotamians, the Anasazi , and the Mali and Songhai civilizations of Aftrica. Also, the means for further research is provided for both online and print resources with an extensive related resources link.

Current Archaeology
http://www.archaeology.co.uk/

Current Archaeology is Britain's leading archaeology magazine and their site is "the place to find out about digs, discoveries, the latest news, societies, events, or just other people who share your interests." You can take a virtual tour of recent discoveries, view directories of archaeological organizations, magazines, books, and other Web sites, read issues of Current Archaeology, get answers to some frequently asked questions, or learn how to begin if you are new to the field. There is also a resource for children interested in archaeology. All of the information provided at this site focuses on the British archaeological world.

Digital Egypt for Universities
http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/Welcome.html

A learning and teaching resource for higher education aimed to assist teaching across all disciplines. Contains 3000 pages created by Wolfram Grajetzki; 300 pages by Stephen Quirke and invited contributors; 3d reconstructions of 14 archaeological sites by Narushige Shiode.

Egyptology Resources
http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/egypt/

A page devoted entirely to Egyptology through the Newton Institute in the University of Cambridge.

EMuseum: Archaeology and Prehistory
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/emuseum1.html

An interactive, museum-like exhibit dealing with the ancient world, world cultures, and various aspects of anthropology and archaelogy. Includes: a World population clock; Minnesota history; ancient civilizations of Asia, Europe, and the Americas; evolution; religion; underwater archaeology; and much more.

Exploring Ancient World Cultures
http://eawc.evansville.edu/

Online course supplement for students and teachers of the ancient and medieval worlds, featuring its own essays and primary texts. Covers eight areas of interest: "The Near East, India, Egypt, China, Greece, Rome, Early Islam and Medieval Europe". Associate site of the Argos Project (http://argos.evansville.edu/about.htm).

FAQ - Career in Archaeology in the U.S.
http://www.museum.state.il.us/ismdepts/anthro/dlcfaq.html

"Answers to basic questions about a career as an archaeologist in the U.S." Includes a bibliography of recommended books and other materials about archaeology, and a listing of archaeology-related Internet resources.

Giza On Line
http://www.sunship.com/http://www.theglobaleducationproject....

Read articles about the Sphinx and temples of Giza and check out the links to museums and other sites.

A Guide to Underwater Archaeology Resources on the Internet
http://www.pophaus.com/underwater/

"Institutes and departments, museums, shipwrecks, maritime history, electronic discussion lists, online publications, and more." Organized by subject. Annotated.

An Invitation to the Indus Civilization
http://pubweb.cc.u-tokai.ac.jp/indus/english/index.html

A guide to the Indus civilization starting around 7000 BC, dealing with the region and environment, the culture of the civilization as well as its fall and various successors.

The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research
http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/

Learn about tree rings, dendrochronology and how they apply to archaeology.

Land Use History of the Colorado Plateau
http://www.cpluhna.nau.edu/index.htm

Environmental history; summary of a vast body of research from multiple disciplines in an easily accessible format.

Life in Ancient Egypt
http://www.carnegiemnh.org/exhibits/egypt/guide.htm

Carnegie Museum of Natural History exhibition on ancient Egypt. Pick from several categories including Daily Life, Gods and Religion, and Funerary Customs to tour the virtual gallery of artifacts, maps, and general information. You can also select a "guided tour" option to browse the collection.

The Long Foreground: Human Prehistory
http://www.wsu.edu/gened/learn-modules/top_longfor/lfopen-in...

This site contains an overview of human prehistory, a hominid species timeline, and human physical characteristics. This is the website of a World Civilizations class from Washington State University.

The Mayan Epigraphic Database Project
http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/med/

The Mayan Epigraphic Database Project (MED) is an experiment in networked scholarship with the purpose of enhancing Classic Mayan epigraphic research. At present, MED consists of a relational database of glyphs ("gnumbers"), images, phonetic values ("pvalues"), and semantic values ("svalues") according to the consensus among various American Mayanists (MacLeod and Reents-Budet 1994). Also present is the beginning of an archive of digitally transcribed Mayan texts.

Mesoamerican Photo Archives
http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~dhixson/

"This site contains full-color photographs of archaeological sites and museums from all over Mexico, complete with extensive captions."

Mesoweb: An Exploration of Mesoamerican Cultures
http://www.mesoweb.com/

Links and articles devoted to ancient Mesoamerica and its cultures: the Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacano, Zapotec, Mixtec, Toltec, Aztec and others. "We reserve the word Mayan for the language and the word Maya for the people and their culture, ancient and modern." Hosts the Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute. Also has some information about Peru, an encyclopedia of Mesoamerica, and a number of multimedia video exhibits.

Modern Ruins
http://www.modern-ruins.com/

This site has beautiful photodocumentaries of modern ruins, mostly around New York. Some use Quicktime panoramas, but most are regular photos. The artist gives brief introductions to his approaches to the different photographed locations.

Mundo Maya
http://www.mayadiscovery.com/ing/default.htm

Learn about the Maya calendar, their history, daily life and archaeology.

Mystery of the Maya
http://www.civilization.ca/civil/maya/mminteng.html

"Deep within the jungles of Mexico and Guatemala and extending into the limestone shelf of the Yucatán peninsula lie the fabled temples and palaces of the Maya. While Europe still slumbered in the midst of the Dark Ages, these innovative people had charted the heavens, evolved the only true writing system native to the Americas and were masters of mathematics and calendrics. Without advantage of metal tools, beasts of burden or even the wheel they were able to construct vast cities with an astonishing degree of architectural perfection and variety. Their legacy in stone, which has survived in a spectacular fashion at places such as Palenque, Tikal, Tulum, Chichén Itzá, Copán and Uxmal, lives on as do the seven million descendants of the classic Maya civilization."

NativeTech - Native American Technology and Art
http://www.nativetech.org

"NativeTech is an educational web site that covers topics of Native American technology and emphasizes the Eastern Woodlands region. The web site is organized into categories of Beadwork, Birds & Feathers, Clay & Pottery, Leather & Clothes, Metalwork, Plants & Trees, Porcupine Quills, Stonework & Tools, and Weaving & Cordage. I provide simple instructional information about how some of these materials are used by Natives. More importantly, I provide detailed background on the history and development of these kinds of Native technologies, showing both the change and continuity from pre-contact times to the present. NativeTech is dedicated to disconnecting the term 'primitive' from peoples' perceptions of Native American technology and art."

Nordic Underwater Archaeology
http://www.abc.se/~pa/uwa/

"This website aims to be a reference and contact list for anybody involved in underwater archaeology, particularly in Northern Europe, and to inform about our maritime heritage, and how to take care of it." Resources available here include a glossary; pointers to archives, literature, journals, and conferences; information on search and investigative tools and techniques; and information on current projects.

Online Resources for Canadian Heritage
http://www.civilization.ca/orch/www00_e.html

"This list focuses on Internet resources pertinent to Canadian heritage in the disciplines covered by the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation: archaeology, ethnology, history (including military history and postal history), and folk culture."

Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean
http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/

29 lessons on Aegean archaeology from Dartmouth College.

The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt
http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2002/egypt/index.htm#about

This online exhibit includes a virtual tour inside a full-scale tomb, the exhibition film, and multimedia slideshows of specific objects. To use these multimedia resources, you must have QuickTime or RealPlayer installed on your computer.

Radiocarbon WEB-info
http://www.c14dating.com/

"Radiocarbon dating is the technique upon which chronologies of the late Pleistocene and Holocene have been built. This resource is designed to provide online information concerning the radiocarbon dating method. We hope it will be of occasional use to radiocarbon users and interested students alike."

Rassegna degli strumenti informatici per lo studio dell'Antichita Classica
http://www.rassegna.unibo.it/index.html

Rassegna degli strumenti informatici per lo Studio dell'Antichita Classica is a guide to electronic resources for Classics. It is posted in the electronic pages of the Department of Ancient History, University of Bologna by Professor Alessandro Cristofori and includes detailed descriptions (in Italian) and hyperlinks to numerous resources, such as literary texts, epigraphy, papyri, numismatics, archaeology, electronic journals, bibliographies, discussion groups, museums and software archives.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/

A compact list of the seven wonders of the ancient world with images and historical background information.

Sipapu: The Anasazi Emergence into the Cyber World
http://sipapu.gsu.edu/

Learn all about Anasazi prehistory and architecture, and use QuickTime to visit 3-D models.

Society for American Archaeology
http://www.saa.org/

The Society for American Archaeology deals with all aspects of archaeology. Their site includes: definitions, legislation information, educational resources and links related to archaeology. It is a great place to find answers to questions ranging from museums all around the world with archaeological collections to what current policy in the United States is to preservation of artifacts.

Southeast Archeological Center - National Park Service
http://www.cr.nps.gov/seac/

"The Southeast Archeological Center continues a thirty-year tradition within the National Park Service of archeological research, collections and information management, and technical support for national park units located in the Southeast Regional Office of the National Park Service (NPS)."

The site includes inforamtion about various archeological projects going on within the National Parks as well as special features on historical background associated with the projects.

Stone Monuments
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/monuments.html

Legends of ancient and current stone monuments the worldwide. Probably the most famous included here is the story of King Arthur's Stone. The page is browsable, not searchable. In addition to the stories, there are a few photos of these ancient monuments and there are links to related sites.

Stone Pages
http://www.stonepages.com/

"Stone circles, dolmens, standing stones, cairns, barrows and hillforts: welcome to the first and most comprehensive online guide to European megaliths and other ancient sites." Megaliths and monuments of France, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Italy. Text descriptions and images of hundreds of sites, glossary of megalith-related terminology, and QTVR tours of 26 megalith sites. Diary and images of guided tours through ancient Scotland and Apulia, along with a megalith site-by-site rating for tourists.

The Theban Mapping Project
http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/

The Theban Mapping Project strives to conserve the archaeological sites in the Thebes valley by developing detailed maps and databases of every archaeological, geological, and ethnographic feature. At this website, you can read articles, use its comprehensive glossary, bibliography, and timeline, or browse the images and maps available online.

Traditions of Magic in Late Antiquity
http://www.lib.umich.edu/pap/magic/

Some of the materials in the University of Michigan's collections that might prove useful in any discussion of magic and its practitioners in the Mediterranean basin and the Near East from the 1st to the 7th centuries A.D.

Underwater Archaeology
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/archeosm/en/

Learn about underwater archaeology in general and about specific sites.

Virtual Museum of Nautical Archaeology
http://ina.tamu.edu/vm.htm

Resource on the under-the-ocean findings of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. Includes maps and historical narratives of several shipwrecks as well as images of the artifacts recovered.

Who Was Who Among the Royal Mummies
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/nn/win95_wente.html

Through the presentation of x-rays of the skulls of royal mummies in the Cairo Museum, this article by noted Egyptologist Edward Wente suggests that the traditional identification of several of the Eighteenth Dynasty mummies may be incorrect.

Yahoo! News Full Coverage: Anthropology and Archaeology
http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=science&cat=anthr...

Features current news stories related to anthropology and archaeology. Also links to news sources, opinions & editorials, magazine articles, video sources, and related Web sites.