this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2026
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Archaeology

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Archaeology or archeology[a] is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes.

Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time.

The discipline involves surveying, excavation, and eventually analysis of data collected, to learn more about the past. In broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Read more...

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Ancient humans were seafaring far earlier than we realised (www.newscientist.com)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz to c/archaeology@mander.xyz
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At a stroke, this extends the human occupation of Malta by over 1000 years. But more importantly, these people were not only alive in the Stone Age; they were also hunter-gatherers, as opposed to people from farming communities with more advanced tools. Archaeologists had often assumed that hunter-gatherers didn’t cross wide spans of ocean. Scerri’s team showed otherwise.

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[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I thought it was known since the 70s

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 2 points 6 days ago

This was an important period in Eurasian prehistory. Modern humans had been living in Eurasia for tens of thousands of years, always as hunter-gatherers. But in a few regions, like the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East, some groups started farming: they grew crops like wheat and kept domesticated animals like cows. These populations were spreading rapidly, and the farming lifestyle was replacing hunting and gathering. Later, farming communities would develop other innovations like writing, organised religion and empires.

Almost all the early boats found were associated with farming communities; the Pesse canoe is the only one that predates agriculture. So, it has been tempting for archaeologists to assume that hunter-gatherers couldn’t or didn’t make boats, and therefore didn’t cross wide bodies of water. Seafaring, they concluded, was a more modern occupation.

That has all changed in the past 20 years.

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 12 points 1 week ago

Archaeologists had often assumed that hunter-gatherers didn’t cross wide spans of ocean.

Polynesians (during their stone age) crossed the Pacific and came back. Populating almost every island along the way.