Archaeology is the study of man s past.
Around the world, this study is usually divided into either prehistoric archaeology or historic archaeology, depending upon the time period involved. In California, historic archaeology begins in 1542, and therefore incorporates only the last four or five hundred years. Prehistoric archaeology incorporates everything earlier, and extends backwards in time for at least 12,000 years, to the time of earliest human arrival within what is now our state. All archaeological thinking, discussion, and writing relates either to archaeological evidence or to archaeological interpretation . Archaeological evidence is the physical remains of past activities, while archaeological interpretation is the explanation of such physical evidence in the attempt of reconstructing past lifeways.