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:
Sudan is hardly the first war-ravaged Middle Eastern nation to have its heritage stolen and sold, said Amr Al-Azm, a Syrian archaeologist and co-director of the Antiquities Trafficking and Heritage Anthropology Research Project.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 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
The collection was discovered in 1963 by archaeologist Jose María Soler in a vessel sunk in a dried-out riverbed in Villena.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
The excellence of all the Egyptian works is explained when we learn that the British archaeologist Howard Carter, who excavated the tomb of Tutankamen, was Gulbenkian’s adviser.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
In 2011, however, marine archaeologist Jaco Boshoff entered the picture.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
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
WSJ spoke with archaeologists and artisans about the business.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 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
Yet, while archaeologists have long focused on preserving these treasures, the people themselves were often forgotten.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
To the archaeologists, the items inside the crates were immensely important.
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.
