Archaeologists study the way humans lived from analyzing excavated artifacts.  Archaeology’s main purpose is to provide insight into cultural adaptations of humankind’s ancient cultures by attempting to reconstruct the culture through excavated artifacts.

There are three main types of excavated artifacts that archaeologists work with:

• Artifacts
  • Materials that have been made or modified by humans
• Ecofacts
  • These artifacts are physical remnants of the past, usually things used by the cultures but not manufactured or reworked by the people of the culture.  These can be bones of animals eaten by the people, seeds used to grow crops, or wood maybe used to build fires.
• Features
  • Usually immovable objects such as fences, hearths, temples, baths, and housing foundations.

Archaeology uses these artifacts to analyze and interpret how the people of a certain culture lived and how the people behaved and may have evolved as a group.