xenoarchaeology

Definitions

noun science fiction A fictional science, concerned with the physical remains of alien cultures. These may be found on planets which have been inhabited or visited by extraterrestrials.

The name derives from Greek ξένος (xenos, stranger, alien), and archaeology (the study of ancients).

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(Now if the word xenoarchaeology had been used I might have agreed.

Archaeoastronomy
I did know the xenoarchaeology research team that I'd joined was one of Thu's reform showpieces, intended to demonstrate Thu's enlightened governmental process.

Dreamfall
Likewise a serious study of how xenoarchaeology is practiced could give genuinely useful insights into the assumptions in SETI programmes.

AlunSalt: Ancient Science and the Science of Ancient Things
"The reception being held up at the Aerie for the xenoarchaeology team that your government has brought here to study the cloud-reefs.

Dreamfall
The only remotely good xenoarchaeology paper I can recall was one which proposed massive orbital structures might create diffraction patterns visible in starlight)

Archaeoastronomy