Vienna, Austria

Prehistory and Historical Archaeology

Urgeschichte und Historische Archäologie

Master's
Table of contents

Prehistory and Historical Archaeology at University of Vienna

Language: GermanStudies in German
Subject area: humanities
Qualification: MA
Master of Arts, MA
4 Semester
120 ECTS
University website: www.univie.ac.at

Definitions and quotes

Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, and cultural landscapes. Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, while in Europe archaeology is often viewed as either a discipline in its own right or a sub-field of other disciplines.
Prehistory
Human prehistory is the period between the use of the first stone tools c. 3.3 million years ago and the invention of writing systems. The earliest writing systems appeared c. 5,300 years ago, but writing was not used in some human cultures until the 19th century or even later. The end of prehistory therefore came at very different dates in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently.
Prehistory
The destruction of the natural world is not the result of global capitalism, industrialisation, 'Western civilisation' or any flaw in human institutions. It is a consequence of the evolutionary success of an exceptionally rapacious primate. Throughout all of history and prehistory, human advance has coincided with ecological devastation.
John Gray (philosopher) Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals (2002) The Human: Disseminated Primatemaia (p. 7)
Archaeology
Archaeology is the nearest history comes to shopping.
Alan Bennett (2004) The History Boys
Prehistory
Because of their very nature, science and logical thinking can never decide what is possible or impossible. Their only function is to explain what has been ascertained by experience and observation.
Rudolf Steiner. Cosmic Memory, Prehistory of Earth and Man.
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