Knowledge of the Piscataway people and other past cultures comes from archaeology, because earlier civilizations left no books or photographs to show how they lived. By digging through layers of earth, archaeologists uncover small pieces of the past, and each layer can reveal part of a story when its contents are interpreted. On this property, objects found in the ground provide the basis for understanding the Piscataway people, including fragments from larger objects that help show what those objects were and how they were used. A test pit here illustrates the plow zone, where soil has been mixed by plowing, and the subsoil below, where archaeologists look for artifacts made by humans.