"Archaeologists dig up dinosaurs."
"Archaeologists get to keep any gold or other artifacts that they find."
"Archaeologists dig to find ancient treasure."
"Archaeologists spend all of their time digging."
"Archaeologists prefer to excavate graves."
Archaeologists dig up dinosaurs.
Carnivorous dinosaur on exhibit at the Burke Museum
Paleontologists study the fossils of extinct animals, including dinosaurs. Geologists study rocks. Archaeologists study people of the past through the things they left behind.
It's okay to pick up artifacts whenever you see them.
Law enforcement official, Rich Davis, standing by a hole made by looters who stole artifacts from this site.
Taking artifacts without using proper scientific methods destroys irreplacable evidence from the past. Federal and state laws do not allow the removal of artifacts from public lands without a permit.
Archaeologists get to keep any gold or other artifacts that they find.
Sophie Schliemann wearing the "treasure of Priam", which her husband excavated and was accused of smuggling out of Turkey for his private collection. Photo from manuscript by C. Irwin-Williams.
Professional archaeologists do not keep, buy, sell, or trade any artifacts. They believe that the objects they dig up should be kept together as a collection to be available for study or display. By law, artifacts recovered from federal or state lands belong to the public, and must be taken care of on behalf of the public.
Archaeologists dig in order to find out how ancient peoples lived. In order to do this, they look for clues such as stone tools, pottery, plants, and animal bones, like these bird bones.
Archaeologists spend all of their time digging.
Archaeology is more than a dig. Archaeologists do not spend a lot of time digging. Instead, they spend a lot of time in the laboratory, analyzing and interpreting their finds.
Dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. Fully modern humans (Homo sapiens) have existed for about 100,000 years and they have occupied the Americas for about 12,000 years. Humans missed the dinosaurs by 64.9 million years! The first people in the Americas hunted big animals such as mammoths and mastodons, and they also gathered plants.
Archaeologists prefer to excavate graves.
While studying human remains can provide a lot of important details about past peoples, these studies are delicate and time-consuming. For these reasons, as well as respect for cultural sensitivities about deceased ancestors, archaeologists think carefully before unearthing a burial.