The Archaeologists' Handbook takes a look at the role of archaeologists from the discovery of an artefact or archaeological site to the identification, dating, preservation, restoration, and understanding of what has been found. This book looks at everything from the most basic archaeological techniques to the latest technological advances used to assist the modern archaeologist; all explained in Ardagh's inimitable and amusing style. The various branches of archaeology are explained, and it is shown how archaeologists with different skills and expertise work together with experts from other fields - including geologists, biologists and those all-important historians - to help create a better understanding of our ancestors, whatever part of the world they might have lived in. With a glossary of terms in the back, and a section on the stories behind the most famous discoveries, this is a must for amateur archaeologists, young and old.