The history of archaeology is both the history of ideas and ways of looking at the past, and the history of employing those ideas and investigating questions. Humans have always speculated about their past, but it was not until 1784 that Thomas Jefferson undertook the first scientific excavation in the history of archaeology. The discipline of archaeology became firmly established in the 19th century when three great advances, namely the acceptance of the antiquity of humankind 远古人类的存在, the concept of evolution 演化, and the development of the Three Age System 三期說, offered a framework for studying and asking intelligent questions about the past. The “culture-historical period 文化-歷史學派” of archaeology lasted from the mid-19th century until around 1960 and its chief concern was the development and study of chronologies. During this time there were rapid advances in scientific aids for archaeology, particularly in the field of dating.