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| Image courtesy toponlinecolleges.com |
Language, according to a dictionary, is a body of words and the systems for their use common to a people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition.
As an archaeologist, there are times when your language is not the common language of the people you are working with. In these cases, it is important that you consider other methods of nonverbal communication. Even then, there can be obstacles.
Field expertise can potentially be considered a universal language. Scientists can communicate with mathematics. Biologists have Latin taxonomy -- even if biologists cannot speak the same language, they can use taxonomy to communicate with each other. In archaeology, one expert in pottery can work with another easily. Same goes for actual digging. An archaeologist may be unable to speak to another, but both understand how to excavate and document their finds -- language is not a barrier that prevents progress.
Communication is essential for effectively accomplishing something with a group of people. However, nonverbal expression and experience can overcome the obstacle of not knowing a language. Field expertise can go beyond language and into the core of your field and even perform better than language. When one expert encounters another, that moment of true unspeakable understanding can fill the pair. Expertise is a language that goes beyond words.
Take the very first Maya meeting encounter back in the seventies as an example. For the first time, a group of archaeologists met and discussed their progress about the Maya culture and the decipherment of the hieroglyphs. In this case, yes they could communicate with language, but their encounter went beyond words. Suddenly, all these different people with different backgrounds were working together with one common passion - what do these gylphs mean? Back at the archives, they sat on the floor staring at a rubbing from a site. Four individuals were working together looking from different angles and suddenly everything made sense. If they hadn't known the same language, they could have drawn their interpretations. Language was not the factor that led them to success, it was field expertise.
Language is a commodity in each culture. We have a set meaning for different symbols and sounds assigned to those symbols. The essence of communication is understanding what is in front of you. If you are in Paris and do not know French, you can still drive a car, identify a train, tell the difference between a house and a tree, etc. That common cultural significance of something is a field expertise. Westerners have their set of meanings for things and Easterners have theirs. We all are a part of some field of expertise - the key is to know what yours is and embrace it.
About the Author
I'm Melanie, the founder of BermudaQuest and an archaeology undergraduate at the University of New Mexico. I love writing about ancient and modern cultures. My goal is to make information about our origins available to everyone [in simple English!]
