Curiosity about the origins and development of human society is a distinctive feature of our species that can be traced back thousands of years. Even (1) ____ ancient times, people kept collections of antiquities from even (2) ____ periods. For (3) ____ of the human past, archaeology is the only (4) ___ of information, as written records are a comparatively recent invention. Our knowledge of the period stretching back from the present day to the emergence of the first tool-making hominids some 2.5 million years ago (5) ____ based predominantly on the remains of settlements, burials and artefacts. It is the (6) ___ of these traces that is the domain of archaeology. From it we (7) ___ of the gradual but (8) ___ mastery of the environment, beginning with the first tools, the building of shelters and the knowledge of fire - early (10) ___ along a path of successive innovations such as pottery and metallurgy (11) ___ has led to the advanced technologies of the present day. We learn also of the change (12) ___ hunting and gathering food to keeping animals and planting crops and (13) ___ the increasing social complexity which accompanied these developments, eventually (14) ___ to the formation of states and empires. The archaeological record of (15) ___ recent events is enriched (16) ___ the survival of lavishly furnished tombs, temples and palaces which are (17) ___ the greatest human cultural and artistic achievements. (18) ___ archaeology is not only (19) ___ study of the grandiose and spectacular, but also provides evidence of the everyday circumstances of (20) ___ people.