archaeologist
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of archaeologist
Explanation
An archaeologist is a scientist who studies human history by digging up human remains and artifacts. Lucy, the oldest human known to man — nearly 3.2 million years old — was dug up in Ethiopia by archaeologist. We know about the history of the human species thanks to archaeologists who spend countless hours sifting through dirt and digging through ruins to find evidence of human life from across time. The word archaeologist can also be spelled archeologist. It comes from the Greek root archaeo-, for "ancient, primitive."
Vocabulary lists containing archaeologist
Play by the Rules: Arch
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Occupations
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The Origins of Civilization, Lessons 1–2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Stables is entirely self-taught as an archaeologist and began excavating the site out of a personal fascination with the village's prehistoric past.
From Science Daily • May 20, 2026
It follows the narrator and her 12-year-old daughter as they travel to Sicily, visiting the site where the narrator’s grandmother, an archaeologist, worked years before.
From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2026
Ukraine says it will continue trying to bring Butyagin to trial to defend its cultural heritage, though this is unlikely now that the archaeologist is back in Russia.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 3, 2026
Coerte Voorhees had tapped Kilmer, who died of pneumonia last year after years of battling throat cancer, for "As Deep as the Grave," about the pioneering archaeologist Ann Morris, a co-discoverer of the Anasazi civilization.
From Barron's • Mar. 18, 2026
In 1997 an archaeologist and a medical doctor with archaeological leanings identified them as human fetuses.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
