Archaeologists do, because archaeology (ar-kee-AH-luh-gee) is the study of the material remains of past peoples. An archaeologist’s goal is to learn about people who have been dead for a long time but left things behind. Finding artifacts, or objects made by humans, is the first step. Archaeologists have to recover these artifacts, preserve them, and unlock their secrets, such as: how and why were they made, and who used them?