Archaeology is the study of the human past from its material remains - of the people them

selves, where they lived or the items they used in their everyday life.  Because written records do not exist for our distant past we have to rely on archaeology to discover how people lived.

Our knowledge of the prehistoric past is gained mainly from the study of evidence that has survived years of burial in the ground and discovered by the archaeologist.

This evidence consists of objects made and used by people in the past and also the deposits of soil which contain these objects.

The further back in time we travel the harder it is to discover evidence of human activity. The objects that survive from the past are only a small part of what was actually used. Most of the items used were made from materials that decay such as wood, bone or leather which only survive in certain conditions. There is a bias in the archaeological record towards more durable material, especially stone.

This section has been divided into the main achaeological periods. Each period contains details of the sites around the County and the various artefacts found.