Site selection is not a foregone conclusion, and the students ability to understand the culture is hindered or helped by their selections. Once a site is selected, a list of artifacts, ecofacts, and features is provided along with a site plan showing findspots. The data is automatically recorded in a data table, and the user can recall the site plan and data list of any excavated site at any time. The user chooses and excavates the sites sequentially so that poor initial research designs can be modified before further sites are excavated. Each student may excavate only a limited number of sites and can not change his or her mind once a site is chosen.
Brief messages appear on screen to relate anecdotes and narrate the progress of the excavations.
These messages include typical interruptions for crises in personal matters, excavation conditions, funding, etc. Students can perform and print out any of the available data analyses at any point, but the program is so structured that once they have answered and printed out the fundamental questions they may not change their answers, nor may they reenter the program. The workbook section provides specific exercises in data analysis, and then leaves room for the individual judgment for further analyses that might be required to answer the question set. As a final exercise the students write an essay presenting their own interpretations of the prehistory of Fugawiland. I was somewhat surprised to find several students who appeared to be uncomfortable using the computer in general and the Fugawiland program in particular.