The people who study the human past do not all call themselves archaeologists. There are historians and paleontologists, anthropologists and paleonthropologists, forensic archaeologists and forensic anthropologists. While there is a lot of overlap in these fields, and the scientists themselves sometimes give contradictory definitions, there are some broad definitions that we can build to illuminate the differences between these studies.
Archaeology
Archaeology is the study of the relics of past humans and their behaviors
Subdisciplines of Archaeology
There are many many areas of specialization in archaeology, depending on what region you study in, or what kind of artifact you look at, or even the theoretical underpinning of your method. Here's a partial list of the subfields of archaeology.Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of the behaviors of living humans
Forensic Anthropology
Forensic anthropology is the study of human behaviors as they are applied to law.
Paleoanthropology
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Paleoanthropology is the study of our near-human ancestors.
Paleontology
Paleontology is the study of the fossils of all life on planet earth, both plants and animals
