History of Archaeology

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. A history of archaeology. 3. History, archaeology and the Indus civilization. 4. Archaeology and the maritime history of ancient Orissa. 5. The Harappan civilization and myth of Aryan Invasion. 6. Early historic landscapes in Central India. 7. Archaeology’s ethics. 8. Irresponsibility in archaeology. 9. The relationship between history and archaeology. 10. Archaeology, Mormonism and the claims of history. 11. The development in the study of history and archaeology. 12. Archaeology and People’s history. 13. New archaeological evidence on cultural and commercial relationships. 14. The archaeology of Buddhist Stupas. 15. Spatial analysis in archaeology. Bibliography. Index.

The exact origins of archeology as a discipline are uncertain. Excavations of ancient monuments and the collection of antiquities have been taking place for thousands of years. Tentative steps towards archaeology as a science took place during the age of enlightenment, also known as the age of reason, in Europe in the 17 and 18 centuries. Archaeology in the Middle East began with the study of the ancient near east by Muslim historians in the medieval Islamic world who developed an interest in learning about pre-Islamic cultures. In particular, they most often concentrated on the archaeology and history o pre-Islamic Arabia, Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. In Egyptology, the first known attempts at deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs were made in Islamic Egypt by Dhul Nun al Misri and Ibn Wahshiyya in the 9 century.