Difference between Historian and Archaeologist

The main difference between historian and archaeologist is that a historian studies the past through written documents while the archaeologist studies history through physical events.

historian vs archaeologist

Historian is the person who studies history and its relationship with the human. An archaeologist is a person who studies archeology as a profession or practices as a profession. The historian deals with the incidents, events and things that relate to mankind. Archeology is the analysis of the past through physical events, such as artifacts and other materials.

The historian investigates history from written documents and the information can be primary or secondary. An archaeologist collects the information on the lifestyle of our predecessors, by discovering and analyzing their societies and the remains of specific periods in particular areas and times. The historian collects information through different sources that depend on the time of the recordings such as print media, handwritten information, on leaves and stones. An archaeologist studies history through the remains of physical things, patterns of their houses, the ruin of buildings, and samples of artifacts like weapons, coins, jewelry, and vessels, etc.

The historian’s jobs and roles include exploring and analyzing facts and information and providing logical information to state facts and figures about the past. An archaeologist has a duty in the specific areas from where he can obtain the physical information about the past and the remains of the things that were in use by our ancestors.

Historians usually get a job in universities, colleges, and museums, etc., while an archaeologist has field work and works as a research assistant or technician.

Comparison chart

What is a historian?

Historian is the person who investigates history from incidents, events and occurrences of the past. Historians covered up the events, achievements, happenings of all human ages and human relations with the environment and climate of that time. Regarded as the expert and authority in the field of history.

Historians collect the information from written records of past events and incidents. The study includes the past/rare writings found on leaves, stones, dried animal leaves, and papers. They can also take information from print media, books, newspapers, and paintings, etc. They gather a lot of information from these documents and recorded materials.

A historian uses different types of sources to gain knowledge about historical events. The types of sources are primary and secondary. Primary sources compiled from a real and direct source. Secondary sources are those in which the information was taken from the person other than the primary source. A secondary source of information can be oral and visual from another person or source.

Career opportunities for a historian are found in different colleges, universities and museums etc. Your qualification should at least graduate. But in universities, the qualification must be up to postgraduate or doctoral degree. level.

Historians’ jobs and roles include reading historical events and documents, finding more relevant and relative information and data. You must be sure of the authenticity of the data. The historian describes the historical importance of different buildings, provides facts to the common people about the historical places and events.

What is an archaeologist?

The person who studies the past through the physical events of the past is called an archaeologist. Archeology is the study that involves the recovery and discovery of different artifacts. The word originated from a Greek word referring to the study of ancient incidents: an archaeologist study and practice of the past as a profession. Take information from the societies of our ancestors, discover the lifestyle of the predecessors using the physical artifacts of their time.

An archaeologist analyzes specific societies, areas, environments, and periods for information. It obtained a large amount of data by analyzing physical remains such as parts of a human skeleton, monuments, building ruins, remains of artifacts such as jewelry, pots, weapons, coins, and ceramics, etc.

Career opportunities for archaeologists depend on their education and level of qualification. Archeology bachelor’s degree is only for entry level like field worker, technician and research assistant etc, post graduate required for senior positions in archeology field.

An archaeologist invents many fields such as analyzing an artifact, determining the age of the object using radiocarbon dating, and providing information on underwater pieces of evidence. He focuses on the relationship between past and present incidents and is concerned with beautiful and unique buildings that had significant value in history.

The duties of an archaeologist include researching history on a physical basis, visiting historical areas and places. Set up an investigation room/space to find evidence about the past, list and categorize known artifacts.

Key differences

1. The historian studies history while the archaeologist takes archeology as a profession.
2. A historian takes information from documented records and evidence; on the other hand, archaeologists study based on physical events.
3. A historian does not have field work; conversely, an archaeologist has to work in the field.
4. The historian does not need to travel through cities to obtain information; on the other hand, the archaeologist needs to travel to collect data.
5. A historian can get a decent job at the graduate level, while an archaeologist needs at least a graduate degree to get a good job.
6. A historian studies the artifacts while an archaeologist studies them and classifies them according to their period in history.

Final Thought

The study concludes that a historian studies past events based on documented information such as books, newspapers, etc., while an archaeologist studies past events based on physical fragments of evidence such as artifacts, etc.