Introduction
Social science is the study of society and human behaviour. It helps to understand how society works and what a person can do for society. Two of the main branches of social science are archaeology and economics. Both archaeology and economics take references from the past to understand the future. Archaeology helps to understand how humans evolved and how can it continue to evolve. And, economics shows the path of evolution.
Archaeology vs Economics
Archaeology is the study of ancient remains and artefacts that help to get an idea of the ancient period. It solves the mysterious question of how humans came on the earth and how they were living during that period. Archaeology is solely based on the past.
Economics is related to the economy of a smaller like small scale industry to a large scale like the government. It makes us understand how society can develop for the good and how to improve the financial condition of the body. It is related to the financial area. However, it is a broader perspective and includes the welfare of people through financial models.
Difference Between Archaeology And Economics (in Tabular Form)
| Parameters of comparison | Archeology | Economics |
| Involved with | History of human civilization | Finance and development |
| Studies | Artifacts, old monuments, scripts | Production, distribution, demand, investment, development |
| Motto | To know about the human civilization | To estimate the growth of human beings starting financially to the ethically |
| Time | Past | Present |
| Branches | Remote sensing, field survey, excavation, analysis, development | Microeconomics, macroeconomics, public economics, development economics |
| Related to | Study of old remains | Study of demand and supply |
What is Archaeology?
Archaeology is a branch of social science that deals with the study of prehistoric and historic objects. The main aim of archaeology is to know about the past by reading books, objects, old traces, monuments, etc. It takes the help of science to study different materials and know how old an object is, and how it was used by past people.
Archaeology has helped a lot to know about the past. The person who studies archaeology is known as an archaeologist. Archaeology is considered more a part of social science and humanities because it helps to know about the past of human civilization.
Various successful discoveries have been made in the field of archaeology. Today, the past is as flourished as the present only through archaeology. People have a lot of ideas about their past and how the past can help to shape their future.
The study of fossil fuels is different from archaeology. It does tell about the period but doesn’t help to understand the past of the human being.
History
The first archaeological discovery was made in ancient Mesopotamian. It was the remains deposited by Akkadian empire ruler Naram-sin who had ruled around 2200 BCE. It was discovered by the Nibonidus is around 550 BCE. He is considered the first archaeologist who led the excavation to find the remains of Samas the sun god, the goddess warrior Anunitu and the sanctuary that was built to the Naram-sin to the moon located in Haram. He also restored the former glory of the temple. He attempted to calculate the date of the temple. Though the answer was not accurate, it build a perception of calculating the age.
With this new development, archaeology was first a part of antiquarianism. The study of artefacts and analysis was going under the title of the antiquarian. It was only after the enlightenment era that existence archaeology came into a separate identity.
Then, comes the period of excavation. One of the first excavations is Stonehenge. It was first discovered by the archaeologist John Aubrey. However, the concept of excavation proved to be haphazard and the sole concept such as stratification and context is destroyed.
Methods
The methods of archaeology depend on what information can be drawn from them. For example, to calculate the age of an artefact, the carbon dating method is used, etc. Here comes the purpose of archaeology.
Archaeology does nothing but gives information about our past. History starts after the evolution of writing. But people were present and living long before the evolution of writing. And, there is no written record of this period. Archaeology helps to know about this period. The hands of archaeology go 2.5 million years past. It was archaeology that told that human beings have evolved from apes.
The traces of archaeology tells about how human evolved from their ancestors. To do an archaeological study, first, a suitable place is searched. The best option is where ancient remains are being found. Then, the place is thoroughly analyzed. And, then a method is chosen that can give specific results. Then, the methods are analyzed to get a fruitful result.
Remote Sensing
Remote sensing provides more information about the location of the sites. It helps to find the exact location of the site. It is done by two methods- passive and active remote sensing. In passive remote sensing, the radiations are passed to the source and then the reflected radiation is read. In this method, only radiation-emitting objects are detected. In active remote sensing, the radiation is emitted to the source. And, then the reflections are read to know about what is reflected from there. It helps to read about the object located inside.
Field Survey
This method is used to put a specific location on the ground. This is done to know about the specific locations of the objects like monuments, ponds, structures, etc. It is done the same as remote sensing.
Some methods of field survey are
- Surface survey
- Aerial survey
- Geophysical survey
- Regional survey
Excavation
Excavation of a site is done to find several pieces of information, such as stratigraphy, three-dimensional structure and primary context. To understand the stratigraphy, assume that one culture lived on a surface. Then, that culture ended and get covered up under the soil. Then again, a new culture started to grow on that surface. It lived, died and get covered up under the soil. It continues to go. Stratigraphy helps to understand which culture lived in which period. Obviously, the oldest culture is located at the bottom. And, the newest culture is located at the top of the soil.
Excavation is an excellent way to know deeply about a place. However, the overall cost of excavation is pretty high. It is destructive too. And, the different government has different conception for excavation which makes it pretty difficult to pursue.
Analysis
After successfully excavating the artefacts, the next step is to analyze them thoroughly. An analysis is a lengthy process and it often takes years to get completed. When the artefacts are brought into the lab, they are first cleaned thoroughly. Then, they are matched with the existing analysis. Then, they are thoroughly examined to know about their structure and function, and how old they are.
Then, a report is prepared that undergoes fact check several times. Only then, it is published in the form of an article.
What is Economics?
Economics is a branch of society that is related to the production, distribution, consumption and investment of goods and services. It studies the behaviour of economic agents and estimates how the economy works. It is broadly categorized into two broader parts: micro-economy and macro economy.
Micro economy studies the behaviour of economic agents and markets, how they interact with each other and what are the outcomes of their interaction. It is the basic part of economics and includes buyers, firms, households, and agents.
Macro economy focuses on the production, distribution, supply, consumption, and management of products and services. It controls other areas like the employment of people, goods, services, and money. The economy involves a large part of the area. It includes the supply and demand of products and services in the market.
History
The development of economics slowly started when people started doing business. Later, it was just confined to shopkeepers and merchants. Later, this exchange of goods develops as a business. More and more people and merchants started together involved in it. It came into vital use after industrialization.
However, economics is not a new thing. It’s been a part of Greek culture since Pluto times. Aristotle has written a book on economics. It was present in a society small or big. After then, it evolved in different ways in different ways. Industrialists and philosophers explained economics in their way.
Branches
There are different types of economics. Two of the most popular branches of economics are microeconomics and macroeconomics.
Microeconomics
Various market entities correlate with each other to form the market. Microeconomics is the method to study these entities individually. It helps to understand the market at a basic level. These entities may include various things like private and public entities that are running under the government liabilities. And, goods and services they provide include various things like vegetables and repair services.
The market is affected by various things. For example, in a perfectly competitive market, industries with similar products collectively have the power to change the price of goods. No single firm can affect its overall costs. But our society is based on an imperfectly competitive market. One firm that dominates the overall production can easily fluctuate the market.
Macroeconomics
Macroeconomics works in broad areas. It works based on general equilibrium theory. It deals with larger subjects like input and output of goods and services, the unemployment rate and price inflation. It is considered a step ahead of microeconomics. Macroeconomics gives a better idea about monetary policy and fiscal policy.
At an advanced level, macroeconomics analyses the long-term schemes and growth of national income.
Public Economics
It is related to public affairs mostly governmental affairs. It includes tax collections, analysis of cost benefits in governmental programmers, fiscal politics and more. It is based on public sector theory and is calculated by normative economics. It is mostly positive describing the safety of government policies.
International Economics
International economics moves around the boundaries. It examines the flow of trade all over the world and the impact of this flow on exchange rates. International finance is a part of macroeconomics.
Labour Economics
Labour economics helps to understand the market for wage labour. It studies the relationship between the labor and employers. The main task of labor economics is to establish a relation between the person who works (worker) and the person who hires (employers). The motto of labour economics is to provide relevant money to labourers.
Development Economics
Development economics works on the development of countries especially countries with financial instability, poverty low-income growth. The approaches taken to improve the conditions of these companies are based on social and economic factors.
Difference Between Archaeology And Economics In Points
- Archaeology is a branch of social science that studies the artefacts to know about human civilization. However, economics is the study of market demand to enhance the financial base of a country.
- Archaeology is related to ancient human civilization and its remains in the present time. While economics is related to the study of the market, how it has evolved earlier and how it can evolve in the upcoming period.
- An archaeologist always thinks about the past, such as how people of a given period might have been living. What would have been the main source of livelihood, et cetera? However, an economist thinks about how a person can grow both financially and socially, how to build a that is competitive but not overpowering, how to ensure that everyone has equal opportunities, etc.
- Archaeology is based on the past while economics is based on the future.
- The method of archaeological discovery is remote sensing, field survey, excavation, and analysis. However, the branches of economics are macroeconomics, microeconomics, public economics, development economics, etc.
Conclusion
Archaeology and economics are two completely different branches of social science. Archaeology is the study of old remains to know how humans were in the early period and how they evolved to the present generation. However, economics is the study of supply and demand to advance and ease the lifestyle of humans. Both play an important role in the overall development of a person.
References
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeology
