Meaning & use
archaeologists
Last updated
“archaeologists” is a form of “archaeologist”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nouncountable
People who study old objects, buildings, and human remains to learn how earlier societies lived.
Grammar: Countable noun; use 'an archaeologist' for one and 'archaeologists' for two or more.
Patterns
- archaeologists study something
- archaeologists discover something
- a team of archaeologists
The archaeologists spent the summer digging at a Roman site in southern Italy.
Archaeologists use pottery, coins, and bones to date the settlements they find.
When the road was widened, archaeologists were called in to check the ground first.
nouncountabletechnical
Specialists who examine material evidence from the past rather than written records.
Grammar: Often used after 'the' to mean the group as a whole: 'The archaeologists agree on the date.'
Patterns
- archaeologists working on something
- archaeologists believe that
- according to archaeologists
Archaeologists working on the shipwreck found sealed jars still full of oil.
According to archaeologists, the wall was built in three separate periods.
The museum invited two archaeologists to explain the new finds to the public.
Word forms
| singular | archaeologist |
|---|
Common combinations
- a team of archaeologists
- A team of archaeologists arrived to survey the field before building began.
- archaeologists excavate a site
- The archaeologists excavated the site layer by layer over four months.
- leading archaeologists
- Several leading archaeologists questioned the early date of the find.
- archaeologists uncover remains
- Archaeologists uncovered human remains beneath the old chapel floor.
- field archaeologists
- Field archaeologists record every object before it is moved.
Synonyms and how they differ
- excavators
- This refers only to people who dig at a site, while archaeologists also study and interpret what they find.
- historians
- Historians mainly work from written documents, but archaeologists rely on physical remains.
Word family
- archaeology noun
- The subject or activity of studying past societies through their remains.
- archaeological adjective
- Relating to archaeology, as in 'archaeological evidence'.
- archaeologically adverb
- In a way that relates to archaeology, as in 'an archaeologically important area'.
Commonly confused: archaeologists or paleontologists? archaeologists or geologists?
archaeologists vs paleontologists
Paleontologists study fossils of plants and animals, including dinosaurs, while archaeologists study human activity and human-made objects.
archaeologists vs geologists
Geologists study rocks and the structure of the earth; archaeologists study past human life, though the two often work together.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'archaeologists' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Archaeologists' is plural, so it takes the plural verb 'dig' and no article 'an'. Option 1 uses 'digs' with a plural subject, option 2 wrongly puts 'an' before a plural noun, and option 3 uses 'is' with a plural subject and the wrong form 'careful'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “archaeologists”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.