Material Culture:
* Artifacts: Any object made or modified by humans, including tools (stone, bone, wood), weapons, pottery, jewelry, clothing remnants, and art. The materials, manufacturing techniques, and stylistic features reveal information about technology, social organization, and beliefs.
* Ecofacts: Natural materials that have been used or affected by humans, such as animal bones, plant remains (pollen, seeds, phytoliths), and charcoal. These provide insights into diet, environment, and resource management.
* Features: Non-portable elements of a site, including hearths, post holes, storage pits, buildings, and burials. They reveal aspects of daily life, architecture, and ritual practices.
* Structures: The remains of houses, settlements, and other built environments. Their design and arrangement offer clues about social organization, family structure, and economic activities.
Environmental Data:
* Sediments: Layers of soil and other deposited materials can provide chronological information (stratigraphy) and reveal past climates and environmental changes.
* Fossil pollen and plant remains: Help reconstruct past vegetation and climate.
* Faunal remains: Animal bones provide information about diet, hunting practices, and past ecosystems.
* Geoarchaeology: The application of geological principles and techniques to archaeological research, helping to understand site formation processes and environmental context.
Human Remains:
* Skeletal remains (osteology): Provide information on human evolution, health, diet, age at death, sex, and migration patterns.
* Ancient DNA (aDNA): Extracted from bones and other materials can reveal genetic relationships between past populations and shed light on human migration and evolution.
Beyond the Physical:
* Spatial relationships between artifacts and features: The arrangement of materials within a site can reveal information about activities and social organization.
* Changes over time (diachronic analysis): Studying how sites and artifacts change through time provides insights into cultural development and evolution.
* Comparison with other sites (synchronic analysis): Comparing different sites from the same period reveals regional variations and interactions between different groups.
Ultimately, students of prehistory use a combination of these lines of evidence to build a comprehensive understanding of past human societies. They rely on careful observation, meticulous documentation, and a range of scientific techniques to interpret the past.