Archeology is the scientific study of past human culture and behavior, from the origins of humans to the present. Archaeology studies past human behavior through the examination of material remains of previous human societies. These remains include the fossils (preserved bones) of humans, food remains, the ruins of buildings, and human artifacts—items such as tools, pottery, and jewelry. From their studies, archaeologists attempt to reconstruct past ways of life.

Archeologists are looking for ancient places. Sometimes, they found whole cities. Sometimes they found bowls or coins or small oil lamps that people used in their homes. When archeologists work, they work slowly and carefully so that they do not break anything fragile when they dig. It can take months to find one little pot.Archeologists need to put the pieces back together.

The process is very interesting to the viewer but painfully slow and tedious for the archeologist. The excavated pits are dug at precise angles using surveyor’s instruments for accurate measurements.
Each and every detail is very important in this process. The sand or dirt is removed using a trowel or an ordinary dust pad and carefully poured into waiting buckets. The buckets are then carried to a sand sifter where all particles are removed from the sand excluding roots. Every stage of the process is measured and recorded. Anticipation is great as each spoonful of dirt is scraped from the measured area. You just never know when a spectacular find is waiting under the surface.

Once digging begins, workers scrape off each level in neat horizontal layers, a painstakingly slow process. Archeologists carefully observe rules of three important concepts: stratigraphy, superposition, and context. Stratigraphy means that the material covering the site was placed there in layers-or strata. Superposition means that the deeper you dig, the older the material gets. While these rules don't give exact ages, they allow scientists to calculate relative time, which is almost as important. Context is also a critical concept, since artifacts only tell a story through the context in which they're found-where they are found and with what they are found.

After uncovering artifacts, an archeologist relies on techniques like X rays and chemical and microscopic analysis to determine what materials were used to make the artifacts, how they were made, their age, and their purpose. If enough artifacts are found, the archeologist puts them together into common groups called assemblages. By studying assemblages, the archeologist can then determine what people did in different parts of the site at different times.

Archeologists must first know where to look for a site. The passage of time and the forces of nature often erase even the sturdiest buildings. Walking an area, archeologists look for special clues that tip them off to human occupation. Some broken pieces of pottery, an old arrowhead, or even a pile of stones can lead them to a site. Before digging, however, they map the surface in detail and sometimes attempt to "see" below the ground with the help of remote sensing techniques like radar.

archeologist - a scientist who studies past cultures or people by analyzing the things they left behind (sites and artifacts)
artifact- any object made or used by people
radar - a device that images an object from a distance by reflecting radio waves off of it and analyzing the signals
remote sensing - a mapping technique that scientists use to analyze materials and landscapes from a distance, without making direct physical contact
site - a geographic area once occupied by people
strata - horizontal layers of soil or rock
survey - examination of Earth's surface to discover archeological sites