Cultural behavior is actively learned and shared among its members. It involves concepts, generalizations, abstractions, assumptions, and ideas transmitted extragenetically through learning using symbols, and made possible through artifacts. Culture is the major adaptive mechanism of our species, which we absolutely depend on for our survival.

The rudiments of culture can be observed in some other organisms, especially the nonhuman primates. Indeed, chimpanzees who manufacture tools are clearly engaged in cultural behaviors, though these behaviors are not vital to the continuation of their species. Observations of Japanese macaques on the island of Koshima provide an example of non-human primate protoculture. Experiments with chimps, gorillas, and bonobos using American Sign Language (ASL) offer yet another example of behavioral potential using features of human language. These examples all suggest culture among non-human primate groups but are rare and individual and do not represent the majority of their behavioral repertoire.

Humans have inherited the basic survival behavior of reptiles, the emotional responses of mammals, and the thought processes that became more elaborate during mammalian evolution. The human brain—the organ that enables us to have culture—may be pictured as having different functional levels, the results of different stages of our evolutionary history. All these levels operate together to produce our basic behavioral repertoire. The thinking part of our brain, our cerebral cortex, is a complex, highly cross-referenced system that allows us to store data from our memories and experiences and to manipulate those memories to produce the ideas that make culture possible.

Culture is a species characteristic, but individual cultural systems differ greatly. The explanation understanding, and analysis of a given cultural system requires that we see each system as an integrated set of ideas and behaviors, all of which are related directly or indirectly to the abstract assumptions we call worldview. Worldview in turn may be defined as the collective interpretations of and responses to the natural and cultural environments in which a group of people lives.

Material artifacts are the means by which humans solve the problems of survival. We make tools geared to dealing with the climate, food sources, and other aspects of our various environments. Material artifacts are also related to our cultural environments. The specific form of an artifact may be more connected to the cultural system than to the natural world. Artifacts have meanings and styles. Many artifacts, such as the tombstones discussed in the beginning of the chapter, serve the purpose of expressing a society's cultural ideas, ideals, and attitudes.

Archaeologists use these connections to interpret the remains of past societies and cultural systems and to reconstruct those societies and systems. As a whole, these endeavors aid anthropology in answering the broad questions concerning our species and its behavior.

For many, the image of archaeology often centers on the recovery of ancient artifacts. Record keeping forms the heart of the data-collection phase of this field. Without a context for the raw data it would be impossible to see the relationships between artifacts and thus impossible to achieve the real goals of the field. So archaeologists use a precise set of techniques to locate, recover, record, date, and preserve the material remains of ancient lifeways.

The archaeological record of human prehistory is rich and complex. Briefly examining some of the high points reveals a record that tells a story of our species' increasing ability to imagine ways to aid survival and to implement those ideas by mastering technical skills to produce a rich and vast array of material artifacts.

The relationship between material culture and the cultural system that designs and uses it forms the basis of archaeology. Archaeologists understand this relationship, and can reconstruct past lifeways and cultural systems. Archaeology also helps expand our knowledge of our evolution and our behavior.