Expert: Ralph Salier - 4/13/2007

Question
what is the differents between archaeology and paleontolgy?

Answer
Hi Matthew,

Archaeology is the study of man, his cultural remains (artifacts) and the places he lived (living sites and their environs).  From this study we try to infer how these people lived, what they eat, how they survived and perhaps even what and how they worshipped, Language development, the development of culture, art, warcraft etc...

Paleo Archaeology has elements of both archeology and paleontology.  This area of archaeology looks at early man sites to Australopithicus sites as much as a cultural site as a paleontological site.  This means that not only is the geology of the site critical to its understanding but the flora and fauna found in proximity to the hominid materials are crutial to the understanding of how these individuals lived and survived.  Unfortunately little cultural (artifactual) materials are ever recoved from such sites except perhaps stone tools.

Paleontology is the study of the fossil record of plants and animals and is apart of the field of Geology.