What is archaeology and why is it important?
Archaeology has evolved from a science largely interested with the goals of treasure hunting, to a science, which attempts to understand cultures through their material remains. Focusing upon the definition of archaeology as a science this paper shall firstly attempt to define what archaeology is, secondly examine some of the difficulties in archaeological definitions and the problems in interpreting the archaeological record, and thirdly to define why archaeology is important. Ultimately the goal of this paper is to examine and present an overview of what the nature of archaeology is, by examining some of the basic theoretical and methodological concerns that encompass it as a science, and what those theoretical and methodological concerns have meant toward gleaning an idea of archaeological context, and interpretation of the archaeological record. There have been multiple definitions of what archaeology is through the history of the discipline several of these definitions define arch
