ABSTRACT
Archaeology today is the study of the human past on the basis of its physical remains. Since most of the physical remains of the past have been covered by dust, sand, silt, water or later habitations, archaeology is generally based on excavation. Excavation, however, provides only the raw materials of archaeology.The real contribution of archaeology to the study of the past is not so much the artifacts themselves as the new information that comes from their careful study and analysis.An archaeologist may (or may not) spend a few weeks in the summer excavating a site, but most of an archaeologist’s research time is spent collecting, analyzing and reflecting on what can be learned from data both new and old.
