Archaeology

Archaeology is a source of history, not just a humble auxiliary discipline. Archaeological data are historical documents in their own right, not mere illustrations to written texts. Just as much as any other historian, an archaeologist studies and tries to reconstitute the process that has created the human world in which we live -- and us ourselves in so far as we are each creatures of our age and social environment. Archaeological data are all changes in the material world resulting from human action or, more succinctly, the fossilized results of human behavior. The sum total of these constitutes what may be called the archaeological record. This record exhibits certain peculiarities and deficiencies the consequences of which produce a rather superficial contrast between archaeological history and the more familiar kind based upon written records.
　　
Not all human behavior fossilizes. The words I utter and you hear as vibrations in the air are certainly human changes in the material world and may be of great historical significance. Yet they leave no sort of trace in the archaeological records unless they are captured by a dictaphone or written down by a clerk.

The movement of troops on the battlefield may ”change the course of history,” but this is equally ephemeral from the archaeologist‘s standpoint. What is perhaps worse, most organic materials are perishable. Everything made of wood, hide, wool, linen, grass, hair, and similar materials will decay and vanish in dust in a few years or centuries, save under very exceptional conditions. In a relatively brief period the archaeological record is reduced to mere scraps of stone, bone, glass, metal, and earthenware. Still modern archaeology, by applying appropriate techniques and comparative methods, aided by a few lucky finds from peat-bogs, deserts, and frozen soils, is able to fill up a good deal of the gap.

全文翻譯：
　
考古學是歷史學的一個來源，而不是地位卑微的輔助學科。 考古學資料本身也是一種 歷史文獻，而不僅僅是文字資料的例證。 正象任何一位歷史學家那樣，考古學家研究調查 并盡力去重構一個過程。 這個過程創造了我們生活的人類世界，也創造了我們自身，因為 我們都是我們所處的時代和社會環境的產物。 考古學的資料就是人類行為所造成的物質變 化。 更簡潔地說，是石化了的人類行為。 這些變化的總和構成了我們所說的考古學記錄。 這些記錄自有其獨特和不足之處，因而導致人們對考古歷史和更熟悉的文字記載歷史進行相 當膚淺的對比。
　　
并不是所有的人類行為都留下化石。 我說的話，你通過空氣振動聽見，這 當然是人類造成的物質變化，也可能有重大的歷史意義，但這些話在考古學中未留下絲毫痕 跡，除非有人用錄音機錄下來或文書把這些話寫了下來。
　　
戰場上軍隊的行動可能”改變歷史 的進程”，但從考古學的觀點來看，這同樣是難以捕捉的；可能更糟的是，多數有機物質會 腐爛。 任何由木頭、生皮、絨線、亞麻、草、毛發以及相似物質做成的東西除非在一些非 常特殊的條件下，幾年或幾個世紀以后，會在塵土中腐爛并消失。 在短時期內，能留下考 古記錄的東西也都會退化為石頭、骨頭、玻璃、金屬和陶器的碎片。 然而，現代考古學通 過運用適當的技術和比較的方法，在從泥炭、沙漠和凍土中所獲得的一些幸運發現的輔助下， 能夠填充這個空缺的很大部分。