Chapter 1: Overview
 
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Archaeologists who do research on the Paleolithic period of prehistory are interested in understanding the behaviors and adaptations of hominids, a grouping that embraces ancient humans and their ancestors, including related populations such as the Neandertals. Reconstructing these behaviors is a process that involves several steps, the first of which is to formulate research questions such as "Why are there different types of stone tool assemblages at Neandertal sites?" or "What is the relationship, if any, between the behaviors of Neandertals and those of anatomically modern humans?"

To begin to generate answers to research questions, archaeologists must gather data that can be used to test ideas (hypotheses) about ancient behaviors. For the Paleolithic, much of this data comes from analyzing stone tool assemblages, animal bones, paleoenvironmental information, chronology, site taphonomy, and hominid fossils. These types of information are primarily from objects that are able to survive the long passage of time, so that most of the archaeological data is either from durable objects such as stone tools, or from the context in which the materials are found. Context is a combination of information gained from examining the spatial relationship between various objects in a site and data about the natural and cultural processes that formed the site (site taphonomy).


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