archaeologist

American  

[ahr-kee-ol-uh-jist] / ˌɑr kiˈɒl ə dʒɪst /

Or archeologist

noun

1. a specialist in archaeology, the scientific study of prehistoric peoples and their cultures by analysis of their artifacts, inscriptions, monuments, etc.

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Etymology

Origin of archaeologist

archaeolog(y) + -ist

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."

Example Sentences

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

Brian Fagan, who died last year at the age of 88, was a well-known archaeologist with an unusual knack for making science accessible to the general public.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 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

An international team that includes University of Arkansas archaeologist Taylor Hermes identified the first evidence of Bronze Age plague in a nonhuman host.

From Science Daily • Mar. 7, 2026

The execution, according to John Rowe, the Berkeley archaeologist, was the result of a conspiracy among Pizarro, Thupa Wallpa, and the lord of Cajamarca.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Related Words

• paleontologist