Final answer:
Material culture in archaeology encompasses tangible remnants of past societies, such as tools and buildings, which archaeologists study to understand human history. These objects are known as artifacts, which are crucial in revealing the behaviors and social systems of ancient peoples.
Step-by-step explanation:
In archaeology, material culture refers to the tangible objects, buildings, resources, and spaces that people use to define their society, and have survived from the past. Archaeologists study the objects that past peoples created and used. These objects are called artifacts.
Material culture represents all of the tools developed by early hominins, such as blades, arrows, axes, etc., which are examples of material culture, as are all of the artifacts discovered by archaeologists, including buildings, pottery, beads, etc. These items are the tools that people made and used in their daily lives, which tell us about how they lived, their technologies, and their societal organization. Emphasis is placed on studying both written artifacts from the historical period and non-written artifacts from prehistoric times to understand the full spectrum of human past.