There are clues about the past all around you if you know where to look for them. They can be as small as seed or as big as a building. But whatever the size they help us build a picture of the past.
Archaeologists are like detectives looking for the trail of breadcrumbs left behind.
Many ancient objects get lost or destroyed over the years. Sometimes wonderful treasures emerge looking as good as new but most finds are ancient junk. To archaeologists though, it is all priceless!
So archaeology isn't all about digging in dirt...it's about piecing together clues and using our imagination to tell stories about the past.
Archaeologists are uncovering more clues all the time and using advances in technology to extract more information from them. But unless we invent a time machine, we will never be able to know everything about the past.
Really Important things – such as ideas and beliefs don’t really leave any traces at all – so we have to do our best with what we find - and this is what makes it fun!