ABSTRACT
Archaeology is a supremely challenging, puzzle-solving activity. This is a large part of the attraction for its practitioners, and the reason why so many people are fascinated with the profession. The buried, seemingly inaccessible past has a powerful pull on our human curiosity. The ways in which archaeologists make the past speak through fragments of refuse is one part of the mystique, our modern-day shamans loosing the tongues of our ancestors. More prosaically, the process of archaeological investigation has considerable pedagogical value. The practice of archaeology provides an extremely useful way to illustrate the broadest techniques of problem solving and procedures of research, incorporating as it does sciences, humanities, arts, social sciences, and practical application, all in one discipline.
