In its strict definition, Anthropology is the rigorous and systematic study of everything human: body - biological anthropology -; language – linguistic anthropology-; culture  - socio-cultural anthropology; and material culture – anthropological archaeology. The latter is accordingly in its global scope, “Anthropology in the past tense”. Anthropological archaeology strives to rely on all material signatures of human presence to reconstruct as accurately as possible past lifeways, social dynamics, and all synchronic as well diachronic patterns of change in space and time. The static archaeological record, obtained through rigorous retrieval protocols – survey and archaeological excavation - is processed and analyzed with the assistance of advanced technologies to bring back to life different facets of past human experiences and behaviors.

Anthropological archaeology encompasses the entire history of human kind, from its early forays into stone-tools making some 3.3 million years to the present. It combines sophisticated theoretical modelling with rigorous empirical grasp of the material record, archaeological sites and their content to flesh out the non-linear evolutionary history of humanity. This research field aims to reconstruct the “human career from its remote hominin’s scavenger ancestry and Stone Age hunter-gatherers’ lifeways to the present current industrial urban societies. It explores the cognitive and symbolic foundations of human minds, behaviors, and activities through conjecture and refutation. Hypotheses driven research protocols are the hallmark of Anthropological archaeology in which the material record is used as Ockham Razor.

Augustin F. C. Holl

At Xiamen, October 30, 2023

Evolutionary dynamics; Stone Age; Paleolithic, Neolithic; Archaeological excavation; Scavenging; Hunter-gatherers; Agriculture; Livestock husbandry; Invention; Innovation; Material Culture; Lithic technologies; Craft specialization; Metallurgies; Urbanization; State formation; Emergent complexity; System collapse.