We’re obsessed with the past.
It’s always with us, a powerful indicator of our identity
We watch it on TV and in Movies.
We travel to places with great histories.
We recreate it and try to preserve it.
The past is POWERFUL.
 It has been used as a tool to build nations, 
and establish empires.
But what IS the past?
The dynasties of Egypt,
the Lost City of the Inca,
the Khmer Empire, the lives of Stone Age man…
These are our past.
How did we learn about them?
Archaeology is how. 
Without archaeologists, 
we would have little understanding of our past.
 Archaeologists study the past 
by analysing material culture,
 or artefacts. 
Artefacts are all the tangible remains of our past. 
Buildings, pottery, weapons, tools… 
Everything we humans created,
 used, altered, or affected 
since the beginning of time.
Everything we leave behind.
Sounds complicated right?
Almost like… science? 
Well, archaeology IS science. 
We use the same scientific methods as other sciences
like Chemistry, Biology, Physics… 
and since we’re studying human history, 
we shouldn’t forget the human part.
So in addition to studying all 
of our past artefacts with a scientific approach
archaeology is a study of humanity.
What were our jobs? Our foods?
 Our homes? Our desires? Our thoughts?
Archaeology tries to answer these questions and more.
We try to study and solve the puzzle 
of past lives and culture,
 using artefacts as our clues.
How?
Patterns. 
We look for patterns in the artefacts
 that help us understand who made them,
 and what they were used for.
For example, something like pottery 
which is a very commonly found artefact.
We can study how it was decorated,
if it was, how it was made, 
and the techniques used to make it.
And even what was in it, if anything.
Answering those questions can tell us
a lot about that item,
where it came from, and the people that used it.
Where do we find artefacts?
Almost everywhere! 
You’re told to keep your head up when you walk 
but if you look at the ground instead, 
you may see stuff that people have left behind.
Even garbage is considered to be an artefact, 
in fact we love finding garbage piles from the past.
Think of how much we can learn about you 
if we sifted through your garbage.
 What you ate, read, any broken toys, and so on.
The stuff we find on the surface of the ground 
are called surface finds. 
It’s not very efficient to depend only
 on surface finds though.
We need to find places 
where there are a lot of artefacts.
Places that show evidence 
of past human activity. 
Like a small campsite 
or massive temple complex.
 A small pile of stone tools 
or a Neolithic cemetery.
These places are called sites. 
We love finding SITES. 
We hope to find many artefacts at sites.
The more artefacts we find, 
then we will find more clues 
to solve the puzzle of the human activity at that site.
Sounds easy right?
Not exactly.
While some sites can be clearly seen 
without even searching, 
like old temples in an ancient city like Rome. 
Others can only be seen 
with special tools and technology.
Some tools like LIDAR help us 
look through thick jungle 
where there can be much more to be seen, 
like the recent discoveries of ancient sites in Cambodia.
Other tech used for dating 
is also widely used to determine the age of finds.
We’ll cover all the different tech and tools we use 
in our research in future videos.
We practice archaeology around the world.
We all want to know more about our past 
because it teaches us 
how we got to where we are in the present, 
and that helps us in the future.
And before you ask, no,
 we don’t do dinosaurs.
ROAR
