ABSTRACT
This chapter is about the basic principles of archaeology, fundamental concepts upon which all archaeological research is based. Archaeologists study ancient human cultures, so we begin by discussing the concept of culture, then the notion of cultural systems, the assumption that human cultures are made up of many interacting components. We describe the importance of culture change, for archaeology is a unique way of studying changes in human society over long periods of time. The goals of archaeology embrace not only setting ancient human societies in time and space but also reconstructing ancient human lifeways, explaining human behavior, and, above all, conserving the past for future generations. We end by defining the archaeological record and some of its components, all of which have a context in time and space.
