Wikipedia:WikiProject Archaeology/Outline

This page outlines content within the scope of WikiProject Archaeology.

Core elements

 * Archaeological record
 * Archaeological science
 * Archaeological site
 * Archaeological theory
 * Artifacts
 * Biofacts
 * Excavation

Archaeological methods and practice

 * Cultural Resources Management
 * Urban archaeology
 * Forensic archaeology
 * Underwater archaeology

Subfields

 * Archaeoastronomy
 * Battlefield archaeology
 * Funerary archaeology/Mortuary archaeology/archaeology of death and burial
 * Maritime archaeology
 * Museum studies

Survey and site discovery

 * Aerial archaeology
 * Archaeological field survey
 * Archaeological geophysics

Archaeological science
Dating
 * Archaeometry
 * Isotope analysis
 * Dendrochronology
 * Radiocarbon dating
 * Environmental archaeology
 * Archaeobotany or paleoethnobotany
 * Palynology
 * Zooarchaeology
 * Geoarchaeology
 * Bioarchaeology
 * Paleopathology
 * Archaeogenetics
 * Taphonomy

Archaeological approaches

 * Ethnoarchaeology
 * Computational archaeology
 * Experimental archaeology
 * Landscape archaeology

By location

 * African archaeology
 * Archaeology of the Americas
 * Australian archaeology
 * European archaeology
 * Russian archaeology

By time period

 * Industrial archaeology
 * Near Eastern archaeology
 * Biblical archaeology
 * Medieval archaeology
 * Historical archaeology
 * Post-medieval archaeology
 * Industrial archaeology
 * Contemporary archaeology

History and theory

 * List of years in archaeology


 * Great ages archaeology
 * Functionalism
 * Processualism / "New Archaeology"
 * Post-processualism
 * Cognitive archaeology
 * Gender archaeology
 * Feminist archaeology
 * Archaeological ethics

Features

 * Main article: Feature


 * Feature
 * Cairn
 * Megalithic tomb
 * Pyramid
 * Sepulchre
 * Tomb
 * Votive site

Artifacts

 * Main article: Artifact


 * Assemblage
 * Grave goods
 * Hoard
 * Manuport
 * Sarcophagus
 * Small finds
 * Stone tool
 * Votive deposit

Other concepts

 * Alignment
 * Archaeological association
 * Archaeological context
 * Archaeological culture
 * Archaeological field survey
 * Archaeological horizon
 * Archaeological natural
 * Archaeological phase
 * Archaeological plan
 * Archaeological record
 * Archaeological sequence
 * Biofact
 * Colluvium
 * Cropmarks
 * Cultural resources management
 * Cut
 * Dark earth
 * Dating methodology
 * Dendrochronology
 * Deposit model
 * Ecofact
 * Excavation
 * Fill
 * Fossil
 * Geologic time scale
 * Geomatics
 * Grave robbing
 * Ground-penetrating radar
 * Harris matrix
 * Law of superposition
 * Lithic analysis
 * Post excavation
 * Projectile point
 * Radiocarbon dating
 * Relationship
 * Seriation
 * Stratification

Education, Institutions and Organisations

 * Graduate Programs in Archaeology

Lists
Also a sub-category
 * List of archaeologists
 * List of Russian archaeologists


 * List of significant archaeological discoveries
 * List of archaeological sites sorted by continent and age
 * List of archaeological sites sorted by country
 * List of Palaeolithic sites in China
 * List of prominent paleoethnobotanists
 * List of years in archaeology

The past
The organization of knowledge about the past can be done in two primary ways: by regions or by periods - space or time. The chronological content is organized going backward in time as one reads down: older periods appear below more recent ones as they do in archaeological texts and in the ground due to stratification. This page is designed to provide an overall picture of both those approaches. It classifies content (or its lack) on Wikipedia not necessarily our state of knowledge as it is.

Notes


 * ''As of April 2013 coverage of the archaeological past was arguably too Eurocentric, particularly for major synthetic articles, templates and timelines. This needs addressing as it is an example of systemic bias.


 * Frameworks for thinking about space and time are varied and often argued about! The intention here is to use the most pragmatic and accepted frameworks that facilitates the organisation of articles

Archaeology by Period
Main article: List of archaeological periods -

Historic Archaeology
Note
 * Archaeologists now work on everything up to the present day (see: Contemporary archaeology). Articles need organising to reflect this and to not just reflect Anglo-American historic periods.


 * Timeline of historic inventions
 * Timeline of world history
 * Timeline of ancient history


 * Industrial archaeology
 * Post-medieval archaeology
 * Medieval archaeology
 * Anglo-Saxons
 * Romans

Synoptic table
This table synthesises and organises the archaeological content on Wikipedia by continent or region and by period at a very general level. Where possible it should link to the highest-level synthetic articles or lists. If there are glaring omissions in the selection of synthetic articles "Redlinks" may be created. This table uses Before Present (eg, 'Present' = AD1950 the radiocarbon dating definition) as a step toward culturally neutral chronology.

Periods and stages in archaeology – also a sub-category'
 * Prehistory - in need of serious cleanup
 * Iron Age
 * Bronze Age
 * Chalcolithic
 * Stone Age
 * Neolithic
 * Mesolithic
 * Palaeolithic
 * Upper Palaeolithic
 * Middle Palaeolithic
 * Lower Palaeolithic

Archaeology by region
Also a sub-category


 * African archaeology
 * Asian archaeology
 * Australasian archaeology
 * European archaeology
 * Roman archaeology
 * Near Eastern archaeology
 * American archaeology – also a sub-category
 * North American archaeology
 * South American archaeology


 * List of archaeological periods – also in sub-category
 * List of archaeological periods (Levant)
 * List of archaeological periods (North America)
 * List of archaeological periods (Northern Europe)
 * List of archaeological periods (Mesoamerica)
 * List of archaeological periods (Korea)


 * List of famous archaeological sites – also in sub-category