ABSTRACT
For many people, one of the most fascinating aspects of archaeology is that it straddles the gulf which separates the arts from the sciences. More specifically, it brings together the ‘softer’ humanities and social sciences with the ‘harder’ physical and natural sciences. The underlying reason for this link is the dual character of material culture. The artifacts studied by archaeologists tell us about history but not in the language of the historian. The archaeologist deals in things and not words. Material culture is both the product of human purpose and yet it is material following the laws of the non-human world. The term itself captures the duality of ‘material’ and ‘culture’.
