Final answer:
Archaeology is focused on understanding the past. It leverages artifacts, fossils, and excavation methods to deduce insights about historical and environmental conditions, human cultures, cultural artifacts, diets, health conditions, and social inequity. Therefore, archaeology does not primarily study the present or predict the future.
Step-by-step explanation:
The subject being explored here is archaeology, a discipline that investigates human past through the examination of artifacts and remains. In relation to the phrasing in the question, the correct assertion would be as follows: C) Archaeology develops an understanding of the past. This is because archaeology seeks to explain the historical and environmental conditions that led to the development of various human cultures, utilizing an array of artifacts, fossils, and excavation methods.
The process begins with archaeological surveys, where surface artifacts or cultural debris are identified. These identified items then become the basis for further archaeological excavation of the site. This systematic technique helps reveal artifacts as well as biological and cultural remains from the historic and prehistoric moments of human-inhabited sites.
Some subfields of Archaeology like bioarchaeology and cultural anthropology also deliver more specific insights. Bioarchaeology studies skeletal remains to deduce insights regarding ancient diets, health conditions, and cultural practices, while Cultural anthropologists look at how various aspects of culture fit together in societies. All of this contributes towards developing an understanding of humanity's past, making archaeology the science of the human past, rather than the present or a predictor of the future.
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