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:
The legacy of a near-century of colonial rule is still contested but archaeologist Roland Fletcher of the University of Sydney said France had made a valuable contribution.
From Barron's ● Nov. 10, 2026
As an archaeologist specializing in desert sites, this was a singular experience.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
But when James Mellaart, a British archaeologist, stumbled on Çatalhöyük in 1952, it was only a “whopping great mound,” 60-feet high and covered in grass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
Michael Krivor, a marine archaeologist on the trip, said he is currently concerned about a weather pattern traveling from east to west that could interfere with "safe transit in and out of the blasted channels".
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
In 1997 an archaeologist and a medical doctor with archaeological leanings identified them as human fetuses.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
It was here that archaeologists unearthed the largest bronze statue ever found in Cambodia, "Reclining Vishnu", which is now touring the world.
From Barron's ● Nov. 10, 2026
What worries one of the archaeologists in the documentary and causes him to lose sleep is how similar our world is to that one.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026
A Neanderthal who died 75,000 years ago may have been struck through the chest by a sharpened wooden spear, archaeologists say.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
The archaeologists say the ship started its voyage from somewhere along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
In Ofnet Cave in Bavaria, archaeologists discovered the remains of thirty-eight foragers, mainly women and children, who had been thrown into two burial pits.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
