Short answer: Archaeology is a favourite IELTS reading topic, so precise words such as excavation, artefact, provenance and radiocarbon dating lift your Lexical Resource fast. Each replaces a vague phrase — "digging", "old object", "where it came from" — with the exact term the passage and an examiner expect at Band 7.
Archaeology and ancient history are among the most common IELTS Academic reading topics: passages describe excavations, dating methods and lost civilisations, and the theme also feeds Speaking questions about history and museums.
Because it recurs so often, its vocabulary is worth learning in advance — a candidate who writes about an excavation, a well-preserved artefact or an object's provenance reads as far more precise than one who writes "digging up old things".
This guide gives you 30 genuine Band 7+ archaeology words, each with a natural collocation and an example sentence you can adapt.
Why topic vocabulary lifts your Lexical Resource band
In both Writing and Speaking, Lexical Resource is one of four marking criteria, each carrying equal weight — so it is worth a full quarter of your mark on those papers.
The public band descriptors state that Band 7 needs "a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow some flexibility and precision" and the use of "less common lexical items… with some awareness of style and collocation".
Preparing topic language in advance is the most efficient way to meet that standard.
The descriptors reward accuracy, not decoration. A less common word dropped into the wrong collocation — "make an excavation" instead of "carry out an excavation" — reads as reach without control and can lower your band rather than raise it.
That is why every entry below is paired with its natural partners: learn the collocation, not the isolated word. For a structured month of building vocabulary like this across topics, follow our 30-day vocabulary plan.
30 Band 7+ archaeology words
Read down each row for the meaning, then across to the collocation and an example sentence that shows the word doing the job it would do in a real answer.
| Word | Meaning | Collocation / common usage | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| excavation | the process of digging to uncover buried remains | an archaeological excavation, carry out an excavation | The excavation uncovered the stone foundations of a Roman villa. |
| artefact | an object made or used by people, of historical interest | an ancient artefact, a rare artefact | The museum displays artefacts recovered from the wreck. |
| site | a place of archaeological interest | an archaeological site, a dig site | The site had been continuously occupied for over a thousand years. |
| strata | layers of soil or rock that reveal a sequence of time | distinct strata, lower strata | Each of the strata at the site represents a different period of settlement. |
| radiocarbon dating | a method of dating organic remains by measuring carbon decay | radiocarbon dating | Radiocarbon dating placed the charcoal at roughly five thousand years old. |
| antiquity | the distant past, especially before the Middle Ages | classical antiquity | The temple dates from the height of classical antiquity. |
| relic | an object that has survived from the past | an ancient relic, a sacred relic | The relic had lain undisturbed in the tomb for millennia. |
| preservation | the state of being kept in original condition | remarkable preservation, the preservation of artefacts | The dry desert air ensured the remarkable preservation of the scrolls. |
| civilisation | an advanced, organised human society | an ancient civilisation, a lost civilisation | The ruins are evidence of a sophisticated ancient civilisation. |
| ruins | the remains of destroyed buildings | ancient ruins, crumbling ruins | The ruins of the great palace still dominate the hillside. |
| inscription | words carved into stone or metal | a stone inscription, decipher an inscription | An inscription above the doorway revealed the ruler's name. |
| burial | the act or site of burying the dead | a burial site, a burial mound | The burial mound contained the remains of a tribal chieftain. |
| tomb | a chamber built to hold the dead | an ancient tomb, a royal tomb | The royal tomb was filled with treasures for the afterlife. |
| decipher | to work out the meaning of ancient writing | decipher a script, decipher hieroglyphs | Scholars took decades to decipher the ancient script. |
| hieroglyphs | a writing system that uses pictorial symbols | Egyptian hieroglyphs | The chamber walls were covered in finely carved hieroglyphs. |
| prehistoric | belonging to the time before written records | a prehistoric settlement, prehistoric tools | The cave contained prehistoric paintings of horses and bison. |
| sarcophagus | a stone coffin, often decorated | an ornate sarcophagus | The sarcophagus had been carved from a single block of granite. |
| dwelling | a place where people lived | an ancient dwelling, cliff dwellings | The remains of mud-brick dwellings marked the edge of the town. |
| settlement | a place where a community established itself | an early settlement, a permanent settlement | The earliest settlement on the site dates back some eight thousand years. |
| fossilised | preserved as a fossil in rock over time | fossilised remains | Fossilised footprints revealed how these early humans walked. |
| midden | an ancient refuse heap that records daily life | a shell midden | A shell midden showed what the coastal community ate and traded. |
| provenance | the origin and ownership history of an object | establish provenance, uncertain provenance | Museums must establish the provenance of every artefact they acquire. |
| epoch | a distinct, extended period of history | a distant epoch, a new epoch | The tools belong to an earlier epoch of human development. |
| remains | the parts of something that survive over time | human remains, skeletal remains | The skeletal remains found at the site were remarkably well preserved. |
| unearth | to discover something by digging it up | unearth a hoard, unearth artefacts | Builders unearthed a hoard of Roman coins beneath the field. |
| hoard | a store of valuable objects hidden long ago | a coin hoard, a buried hoard | The buried hoard contained hundreds of silver coins. |
| archaic | very old or belonging to a much earlier time | an archaic script, archaic tools | The inscription was written in an archaic form of the language. |
| monument | a lasting structure built to commemorate or endure | an ancient monument, a stone monument | The stone monument had stood on the plain for four thousand years. |
| potsherd | a broken fragment of ancient pottery | date the potsherds | Dating the potsherds helped fix the age of the buried layer. |
| chronology | the arrangement of events in order of time | establish a chronology, a precise chronology | Careful dating allowed a precise chronology of the settlement to be established. |
How to turn these words into marks
Commit each word inside its collocation, not on its own: "excavation" on its own is fragile, but "carry out an excavation" or "an archaeological excavation" gives you a ready-made phrase you can drop into a sentence without a grammar risk.
Use one or two of these words per paragraph, where they are natural — accuracy beats quantity, and a single wrong collocation is more visible to an examiner than three plain sentences.
Meet the words in context with our archaeology reading practice, then make them active with a word a day on Word Coach.