Research object: Historical research materials, the most basic historical materials are documents, that is, written materials. Therefore, the history before the invention of writing, which is not recorded by writing, is naturally a shortcoming of historical research. Archaeology studies physical objects, which are tangible and observable things left over from human activities, including relics, artificial relics and natural relics. Its characteristics are also obvious, that is, most of the remains have no words themselves, and archaeological materials can only be spoken by people. Moreover, not all human activities can produce tangible remains, and historical languages, philosophical concepts and belief systems may disappear without leaving any direct evidence.
Research methods: The nature of the research object determines that the research methods of archaeology and history are very different. Even if we study problems in the same field, it is basically a state of division of labor and cooperation in practical work, and few people can understand both. The basic way for archaeology to obtain information is field archaeological investigation and excavation, and the basic methods are stratigraphy, typology, burial, national archaeology and experimental archaeology. There are many methods combined with natural science, which can be collectively called archaeological science and technology. It is not easy for history to generalize a special method called "uncertain historical law", but the most basic method is to deal with documents, such as phonology, exegetics, edition, identification of fakes, textual research, and slightly special methods, such as comparison, measurement and psychoanalysis. Of course, there are exceptions, such as historical anthropology that emphasizes field work.