What is Processual archaeology?
[[File:Recutditch.png|thumb|336x336px]] '''Processual archaeology''', formerly called New Archaeology, is a way of doing [[archaeology]] that tries to be as [[Scientific method|scientific]] as possible. Archaeologists are people who study people through objects. Often by digging for remains and [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]]. Processual archaeologists use specific methods to come up with general rules that explain human [[culture]] around the world and through time. This means they are trying to find reasons that explain why people around the world do things in similar ways. == Background of Processual Archaeology == Processual archaeology came about in the 1960s and is an approach to archaeology; this means it is a way of doing archaeology that people choose to follow. Before the processual approach, another approach was ‘culture history’ which tried to only create [[History|histories]] for particular places. Culture history archaeologists started with a modern culture and traced its roots back as far as they would go. Culture history archaeologists dug units (square holes that are dug very carefully) that went very deep to find the oldest objects. Anywhere you dig, the youngest materials are close to the surface at the top and the oldest materials are at the bottom. Archaeologists learn about the history of a place by knowing what objects came in what order. This helps archaeologists understand the history of a place. Processual archaeology is different from culture history because archaeologists dug larger units to understand more widely what was happening at a site, or place of archaeological importance. These new archaeologists also added many scientific instruments to help them study the past. === Lewis Binford and Archaeology as Anthropology === Lewis Binford was a famous processual archaeologist from the 1960s. He believed that archaeology should be practiced like [[anthropology]]. Anthropology is the study of past and present people and the many parts of what it means to be human. Binford ar