Archaeology is the study of the human past using material remains. These remains can be any objects that people created, modified, or used. ... Archaeologists use artifacts and features to learn how people lived in specific times and places.

Who are archaeologists and what do they study?

Archaeology is the study of the ancient and recent human past through material remains. Archaeologists might study the million-year-old fossils of our earliest human ancestors in Africa. Or they might study 20th-century buildings in present-day New York City.

Why does an archaeologist study?

Archaeology is primarily concerned with reconstructing extinct cultures from the material remains of past human behavior, or the things people made or used and left behind. ... Archaeologists look for patterns in the artifacts they study that give them clues about how the people who made and used them lived.