xenoarcheology

From xeno- +‎ archeology.

xenoarcheology (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of xenoarchaeology.
   • 2001 June, Alan Dean Foster, Reunion: A Pip & Flinx Novel‎^[1] (Science Fiction), New York: Del Rey Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 164:

     As they walked, he saw the black material around him and beneath his feet in an entirely new light. A transmitter of gargantuan size and incredible age, the AAnn insisted. Who had built it? Why was it situated on an empty, ovenlike, nowhere world like Pyrassis? Was this what the crew and complement of the Crotase had come all this distant, dangerous way hoping to find? If so, what possible connection could a prehistoric alien transmitting device have with the Meliorare Society, or with the sybfile of personal information he had tracked halfway across the galactic arm?
     Through stealth and quick thinking he had acquired some answers, but in no wise were they keeping up with the rising flood of questions. Try as he might, he failed to link his purpose in being on distant Pyrassis with that of the crew from the Crotase, much less with the presence of an enormous antediluvian transmitter of alien design. It was entirely possible, he realized, that there was no link, and that the visitors from the Commonwealth vessel had come to this desert world driven by other reasons entirely. The revelation of the transmitter’s existence was as unlikely as it was unexpected. While it engaged his interest and imagination, he knew he must not let it distract him from his purpose in journeying to this place. He was here to learn about and find out about himself, not to engage in xenoarcheology.

   • 2003, Thomas Harlan, Wasteland of Flint‎^[2] (Science Fiction), New York: Tom Doherty Associates, →ISBN, →OCLC, pages 283–284:

     "Have you thought about the power of the First Sun people? They bestrode the stars as gods — we have seen the scraps and ruins they leave behind— and we are ants creeping across the floor of a deserted house. Our ships have visited six hundred worlds, only the tiniest fraction of the suns we can see with the unaided eye. Yet there are wonders which beggar our knowledge and skill even in such a tiny space. Have you thought what might lie beyond the rim of our domain?"
     "Hasn't everyone? Every undergraduate class debates this in first-term xenoarcheology!" Gretchen began to feel the excitement of curiosity stir and tried to keep her voice level. "Where did they come from, the giants of the First Sun? Where did they go? Why aren't they here now?"

   • 2008 December, Steve Conley, Astounding Space Thrills: Argosy Smith and the Codex Reckoning (Astounding Space Thrills)‎^[3] (Science Fiction), IDW Publishing, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 40:

     THE SECOND WE'VE FINISHED UPLOADING THE CODEX FORMULA, I'LL GET US INTO THE CREGGELWEN ANTIQUE AUCTION. […]
     FOR MY XENOARCHEOLOGY THESIS, I RECOVERED THEIR CROWN JEWELS. ONCE YOU GET PAST THE OOZING, THEY'RE REALLY NICE PEOPLE.