How do archaeologists learn about the lives of prehistoric people?

There are really too many ways to list, but think about it - the word is 'prehistory' (a time before 'history'), so the evidence has to come from material remains, in other words there are no written records of prehistoric societies (though sometimes their 'neighbours' wrote about them - e.g. in the way the Romans wrote about the Druids). The evidence comes in many forms: remains of habitation, manufactured objects, human and animal remains, and the scientific study of these materials and artifacts. These include dating using such techniques as radiocarbon and thermoluminescence. Specialist areas cover ancient diets and studies of isotopes which can indicate where people were brought up, or suggest patterns of migration. Pollen analysis from the remains of ancient vegetation can tell archaeologists about former climatic conditions and crops. Geophysical survey methods can find ancient settlements and patterns of activity. In short archaeology is a hugely diverse subject. The book ...  more

By the things they leave behind. For instance the Ice Man had shoes stuffed with straw for insulation against the cold. Up until this discovery, this was unknown. People very often left tools behind, and a lot of pottery. Pottery can be broken but it won't disintegrate, so the contents of the pots and the types of glazes used can tell you much about the diet of the people in question and about their technical mastery of pottery. And then we have cave paintings, burial sites and so on.  more