archaeologist
Americannoun
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:
Holding her camera and notebook, archaeologist Micheline Kurdi walked through the ruins to document the site's state and plan the first "quick interventions" to restore it, she told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
John Bolton, an archaeologist, was visiting the 11th Century Pembroke Castle in 2010 when he heard there was a cave beneath it.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
The modern Harvard Cornell partnership began in 1958 under Harvard archaeologist George M. A. Hanfmann and Cornell architect Henry Detweiler from the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, whose expertise centered on documenting historic buildings.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 25, 2026
“There’s a lot of unknowns,” said Sasha Travaglio, a spokesperson for the Santa Rosa Island fire Burned Area Emergency Response team, which includes a hydrologist, a soil scientist, an archaeologist, a paleontologist and a botanist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
But our archaeologist might then reflect: what, really, does a “head start” mean for the purposes of this book?
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
The series focuses on a trio of inhabitants whom archaeologists have investigated—a teenager, a businesswoman, and a Roman guard—in episodes that will also be available on Disney+ and Hulu starting July 23.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Her posture captures the human body in motion and archaeologists have long considered the sculpture to be of great artistic value and evidence of the civilisation's advanced knowledge of metallurgy.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
High in the eastern Pyrenees, archaeologists have uncovered evidence that could transform our understanding of how prehistoric people used mountain landscapes.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 3, 2026
But archaeologists have now used scientific advances to date the rock art to at least 17,100 years ago - also making it the oldest in north-western Europe.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
Then, just as the public, the curators, and the archaeologists waited anxiously to see what would be discovered next, the divers announced they had run into a serious problem.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
