Fossil-Treasures-of-Florida-Newsletter, Issue #0006 -- What's the difference?

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Fossil-Treasures-of-Florida-Newsletter, Issue #0006 -- What's the difference?
March 10, 2010

Fossil Newsletter, Issue #0006 - What's the difference between a Paleontologist and an Archaeologist?

March 10, 2010

In this Issue:

* Huge Prehistoric Fish Discovered that ate Plankton.
* What's the difference between a Paleontologist and an Archaeologist?
* Don't Call Fossils.......Artifacts, Arrowheads, Relics, ect.!!
* What's New at Fossil-Treasures-of-Florida.com

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So did you miss me? It's been a while since my last newsletter. I'll see if I can be more consistent. I have been to a lot of fossil shows lately, including one of the largest in Tucson, Arizona.

Huge Prehistoric Fish Discovered that ate Plankton.

Huge Prehistoric Fish discovered that ate plankton. Fossils give clues to fish. Click here to read about Huge Prehistoric Fish.

Click Here to read about Megalodon.

What's the difference between a Paleontologist and an Archaeologist?

Paleontology - the word was created in 1838. Paleo - "old, ancient" + ontos - "life, being" + ology - "study of". So the translation is "the study of ancient life". It is the study of fossil animals, plants, and other organisms.

Paleontologist - "is a person who studies ancient life."

Archaeology - the word was recorded in 1837. Archae - "ancient, beginning" + ology – "study of". The translation is "study of ancient peoples". It is the study of material remains of past human life and activities.

Archaeologist - "is a person who studies ancient peoples."

Why is it important to know the difference? Beyond the basic understanding of the two disciplines - most of the general public and media do not understand the difference and the two words are usually boiled down to one word "Archaeologist".

To make matters more confusing, Archaeologists seem to spend a lot of time digging up fossils with no connection to ancient peoples. My personal theory is that Archaeologists have better funding than Paleontologists and there seems to be more of them; so they fill the vacuum and take the publicity.

A key difference, to be recognized, is in legislation that is "protecting" some bit of archaeology and then the language of "fossils, too", gets added. Of course, this has nothing to do with archaeology, but who knows the difference. One exception of this might be when an archaeological site contains both human material and fossils that have been modified by ancient man (carved bone or antler fossils, shell fossils, shark teeth fossils, etc).

It could be that a site contains fossil human bones. Whose department is that?

I can tell you that if a fossil has been modified by ancient man, it stops being a fossil and suddenly becomes an artifact; although I'm not sure why. It seems to take a jump from paleontology to archaeology, and then different rules and laws apply. Once again "man" triumphs over "nature".

Don't Call Fossils.......Artifacts, Arrowheads, Relics, ect.!!

Fossils - are the preserved remains, impressions, or traces of a living thing from a former geologic age. The word comes from the Latin "fossus", meaning "having been dug up".

Artifact - something created by humans.

Arrowhead - a sharp pointed tip attached to an arrow.

Relic - an object of the past esteemed by human culture. (Ok, this is borderline. The term usually refers to a past human object.)

What's New at Fossil-Treasures-of-Florida.com

*Take a look at these newly added or updated pages!

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