Archaeology is the study of human behavior as evidenced by physical remains, be they cities, arrowheads, tombs, writings, tools, ceramics, trash or any number of things not mentioned here. The important thing is that the researcher does not lose focus on the real goal of the discipline--understanding people.
To this effect, in recent years modern material culture studies such as the now infamous Garbage Project have, using archaeological methodology gained insight into the peoples of today.
Though there are many factional divisions with archaeology, the two main groups are the Americanist and European archaeologists. Much of the difference is seen today in the application of stratigraphic methodology, in particular the Harris Matrix which is used much more frequently among those of the European school.
The differences stem, though, from the density and types of sites traditionally found in the two regions. Whereas in the Old World sedentary culture had long been established creating large and deep sites where a technological checklist could seperate sites into distinct ages (e.g. Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age), the vast majority of New World sites did not have the extreme duration of occupation seen across the seas. As such, for a long time it was even held that the Americas had only a shallow history of human occupation, a view held by the Bureau of American Ethnography. It was not until the early 1900s discovery of a Clovis point in the ribs of a long extinct species of bison that American deep time was widely accepted. Nonetheless, the differences in sites between the Americas and the Old World caused archaeologists to develop different theoretical and methodological tool sets to suit their needs. Not unexpectedly, the creators of these tool sets became entrenched in their respective region's educational system and the two schools are still widely extant.
Regardless, most modern archaeologists have a much more holistic approach to field and lab work than their graverobbing, tomb raiding, treasure hoarding predecessors. Modern archaeology attempts to combine sound excavation techniques, most often stratigraphic, with up-to-date analysis of archaeobotany, archaeoecology, epidemiology, geology and pretty much anything that can be deemed relevant to a site. Archaeology is still evolving as new methods are developed and new thinkers come to the fore.
Some archaeology related quotes:
"In the past, people did not have Fritos. In the absence of Fritos, you need rockchucks."
--Joel Janetski
"The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why and Where phases. For instance, the first phrase is characterized by the question 'How can we eat?' the second by the question 'Why do we eat?' and the third by the question 'Where shall we have lunch?'"
--Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
"The greatest contribution archaeology has ever provided to society is the simple fact that everybody is destined to become a feature."
--Anonymous
"It takes very special qualities to devote one's life to life to problems with no attainable solutions and to poking around in dead's people's garbage: Words like 'masochistic,' 'nosy,' and 'completely batty' spring to mind."
--Paul Bahn, Bluff Your Way in Archaeology
"When I hear anyone talk of culture, I reach for my revolver."
--Hermann Goering
"Nothing changes more constantly than the past; for the past that influences our lives does not consist of what actually happened, but of what men believe happened."
--Gerald White Johnson, American Heroes and Hero-Worships
"Whoso diggeth the pit shall fall therein"
--Solomon, Prophets 26:27
"...In only seven years, Unit 18 recovered 8 percent of its cultural material contents, and Level 1 comprising the upper 10 cm recovered 41 percent. At this rate, including transportation of materials both in and out of Unit 18, the unit could be completely restocked with equivalent cultural materials in 88 years after the first excavation"
--Barbara Bocek, discussing the effects of bioturbation on a previously excavated unit backfilled with clean sediment, upon re-excavation, American Antiquity
"One coffin split while being moved. We did not open it but the liquid that ran out was far and enough to convince me that there had been total decomposition of non-skeletal material. This was one of the most digusting experiences of my career as an archaeologist."
--William Moss
"Archaeologists have the most mind numbing job on the planet"
--Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes
"Those were the great days of excavating... anything to which a fancy was taken, from a scarab to an obelisk, was just appropriated, and if there was a difference with a brother excavator, one laid for him with a gun."
--Howard Carter, 1923
"{Archaeology is} the discipline with the theory and practice for the recovery of unobservable hominid behavior patterns from indirect traces in bad samples."
--David Clark
"I notice that archaeologists who come up with neat models for prehistoric cultural events seem to feel that they are presenting us with some sort of reality. It is lucky for these scholars that the long-dead subjects of their study cannot now contradict them."
--Michael Coe
"Future archaeologists will perhaps excavate the ruined factories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when the radiation effects of atom bombs have died away."
--O.G.S. Crawford, Archaeology in the Field
"Civilizations exist by geological consent, subject to change without notice."
--Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy
"Culture is one thing and varnish is another."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
"In a manner of speaking, the fact that humankind itself is unpredictable is the quintessential stumbling-block for archaeologists. We have to assume that the people whose dwelling places, artefacts, lives even, we are dealing with were rational, integrated, sane and sensible human beings. Then we look around at our own contemporaries and wonder how this belief can possibly be sustained."
--Laurance Flanagan, Ancient Ireland: Life Before the Celts
"Archaeology is the only branch of anthropology where we kill our informants in the process of studying them."
--Kent V. Flannery
"Archaeology is the search for fact. Not Truth. If it's Truth you're interested in, Dr. Tyree's Philosophy class is right down the hall. So forget any ideas you've got about lost cities, exotic travel, and digging up the world. We do not follow maps to buried treasure and 'X' never, ever, marks the spot."
--Indiana Jones
"American archaeology is ready to be a mature science, one that accepts the primacy of its empirical data--for these can outlast theories--and the political and human ramifications of its actions, as it reflectively constructs and compares interpretations. Tolerance for ambiguity is as essential as the Marshalltown trowel."
--Alice Beck Kehoe, The Land of Prehistory: A critical history of American archaeology
"No project was ever completed on time and within budget."
--Khufu's Law
"Ah ha! The Rebel Base!"
--George Lucas, upon seeing the Mayan ruins at Tikal
"I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes."
--Carl Sandburg
"I became an archaeologist because I wanted to drive around in a big Landrover; smoking, cursing and finding treasure."
--Carmel Schrire, Digging Through Darkness
If you know any good archaeology-related quotes /msg me at TheMarmot and I'll be more than happy to add them.
Some quotes found at: http://archaeology.about.com/