Equally important to the archaeologist are contextual clues that are often learned only through painstakingly careful excavation. The study of material culture includes examining artifacts, portable items such as baskets or hammers, and features, which are non-portable things such as buildings or fireplaces. Archaeologists study peoples' material culture, the things that are made, modified, or used by humans or our ancestors (generally referred to as hominins). The job of an archaeologist can be a difficult one. When combined with the study of the biological changes that the human lineage has undergone over the last several million years, archaeology provides an important part of our understanding of the evolutionary success of modern humans, Homo sapiens. More specifically, archaeology is the reconstruction of ancient behavior from the things people left behind. Archaeology is a sub-discipline of anthropology, which is the study of people, particularly human biological and behavioral variation in the present, as well as the past.

Stone tools made by early man