Archaeologists reconstruct the past by a study of the artefacts which they unearth such as seals, coins, remains of buildings, clay, pots or burnt grains. Archaeologist reconstruct the past in the following ways:

• Archaeologists excavate the ancient sites. They try to find about the life of the people by studying various unearthed artefacts such as remains of houses, pots, jewellery, coins, agricultural tools, weighs etc.
• Zooarchaeologists study the animal bones and try to find out if these animals were domesticated. For example, Animal bones found at Harappan sites include those of cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo and pig. It show us that the Harappans were aware of these animal.
• Archaeologists try to find about the prevalence of agriculture by finding the remains of burnt grains. Some ways by which they try to find about the agricultural practices is by studying seals and terracotta sculptures. For example, representations on seals and terracotta sculpture indicate that the bull was known, and archaeologists extrapolate from this that oxen were used for ploughing.
• Archaeologists also try to find about social or economic differences amongst people in the past by studying burial sites. When graves contain pottery and ornaments, it indicate that people during that time believed in afterlife.
• Archaeologists try to look for raw material such as stone nodules, whole shells, copper ore; tools; unfinished objects; rejects and waste materials to identify the centres of craft production.
• Religious beliefs of the people can be reconstructed based on the study of seals and coins. In the Harappan Civilisation, some seals depicted rituals while some seals had plat motifs on them indicating nature worship.