archaeologist
Americannoun
-
archaeologists
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
For 40 years, the archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad had been the principal custodian of Palmyra.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
In Batroun, a northern coastal city home to the ruins of a small Roman amphitheatre, an archaeologist was surrounded by tools and papers, documenting the latest finds as waves lapped rocks nearby.
From Barron's ● Aug. 29, 2026
In his new book, First Dogs: Hunter-Gatherers and their Canine Companions from Prehistory to the Present, archaeologist Professor Peter Mitchell explores dog domestication as a complicated and gradual process.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
Ran Honglin, the lead archaeologist at the site, had long believed there was more to Sanxingdui—whose name means “Three Star Mound,” a reference to a nearby topographic feature—than the two sacrificial pits found in 1986.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Finally the archaeologist appeared, smelling faintly of perspiration, and they dove into their cucumber-mint soup.
From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye
By August, archaeologists had completed the third phase of the excavation at the site, during which they found the skeletal remains of 572 people, including children and infants.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
The workplace at the center of “Dig” is an excavation site in Greece, where Poehler’s Elise is among a team of archaeologists that unearths a rare artifact.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
For years, archaeologists have debated why some ancient Egyptian princesses were buried with weapons.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
Sarkis Khoury, head of antiquities at Lebanon's culture ministry, told AFP the war had forced archaeologists to switch tack.
From Barron's ● Aug. 29, 2026
At a Brazilian rock shelter named Pedra Furada, archaeologists found cave paintings undoubtedly made by humans.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
