Difference between Archaeologist and Historian

Key Difference: An archaeologist deals with the field work that might consist of digging and restoring artifacts, or human-made objects, from ancient ruins. A historian is a person who deals with the past, i.e., history. They use sources of evidence to find out about the past.

The archaeology of an historic site is meaningless without history; and the history of such a site is impoverished without archaeology. Thus, archaeologist and historian, both have a common interest to comprehend human diversity.

An archaeologist deals with the field work that might consist of digging and restoring artifacts, or human-made objects, from ancient ruins. They analyze skeletal remains and artifacts, such as tools, pottery, cave paintings, and ruins of buildings. It is considered to be a subfield of anthropology. The term is derived from the Greek word archaiologia, where archaio means ‘ancient’ and logos means ‘science' and ‘study’. The science is archaeology, from which they deal with the study of ancient times. It provides an insight of the ancient times by analyzing the remained materials belonging to that time. It aims to preserve the history for present and future learning. Pre-history is known by the artifacts of the pre-historic people, which they left behind. The best example is Harappa, which is an archaeological site in Punjab, India.

A historian uses sources of evidence to find out about the past. There are two types of sources: Primary source and Secondary source. Primary sources are sources of evidence that come from the time we are studying, i.e., they give us the first-hand information. Whereas, secondary sources are sources that came into existence after studying, i.e., they give us second-hand information. There are different types of sources that are hand written, printed, visual, oral, interviews and recordings. In simple terms, historians mainly deal with the study of history. They also do the research of past events of the human race.

Sources are dated by archaeologists and historians. The common dates which are used splits history into two sections: BC and AD. Where, BC stands for Before Christ or Before the Christian Era and AD stands for Anno Domini.

Comparison between Archaeologist and Historian:

	Archaeologist	Historian
Description	Archeologist deals with the study of ancient times. It provides an insight of the ancient times by analyzing the remained materials belonging to that time.	A historian is a person who deals with the past, i.e., history. They use sources of evidence to find out about the past.
Origin of the word	Greek archaiologia – "ancient" and logia "word" or "study."	The founders of "history" are Herodotus and Thucydides, which was derived from a Greek word that refers to “what is known by asking”.
Pronunciation	ahr-kee-ol-uh-jist	hi-stawr-ee-uhn
Fields	Archaeometry - Artifact analysis, remote sensing, and radiocarbon dating like techniques are used in this field. Underwater Archeology - underwater evidences are associated with it. Classical – study of more civilized societies. Environmental – the principles of the subject are applied to the study of environment. Pseudo – a non-scientiic approach is used. Ethno – focuses on creating connection between the past and the present. Historical – pertaining to the ancient historical sites.	Primary Source - come from the time being studied. It was written by the historians. The sources were newspapers, books, paintings, diaries, pictures, which are written, visual and oral sources. It is also known as first-hand information. Secondary Source - come from after the time being studied. Historians were able to write by referring to the primary source. The sources were interviews, recordings, etc. It is also known as second-hand information.
Degree	Generally, require a Ph.D.	Require a graduate degree.
Famous personalities	Leslie Alcock- His major excavations include Dinas Powys hill fort in Wales and Cadbury Castle in Somerset. Anthony Aveni- known for his contributions to the field of archaeoastronomy.	Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel - historicist and idealist account of reality revolutionized European philosophy. Barthold Georg Niebuhr – German historian.