ABSTRACT
Human behavior is the first stage in the formation of the archaeological record. But what happens when the site is deserted? The collapsed brush shelters, a scatter of stone tools, the remains of a ceremony are abandoned, being of no further use to their owners. All manner of natural processes take hold. The bodies of the buried dead decay; toppled shelters rot away in the sun. Subsequently, a nearby lake may rise and cover the remains, or windblown sand may accumulate over the stone artifacts. Another group may come and build a farming village on the same spot or may simply reuse some of the artifacts left by the earlier occupants.
