Emphasis Preaching Journal

Archaeologists, in their quest for the secrets of the past, often use a tool which looks rather like a sieve. It is a box with a mesh bottom into which dirt "left over" from an excavation is shoveled. By shaking the loose dirt through the sieve, or washing it through with a hose, rubbish is left behind. This rubbish tells a story. Pottery shards, fish and animal bones, worked pieces of stone, all tell how people lived, what they ate, what their everyday possessions were like. These are rarely major artifacts, or individually of great worth.