<p>The purpose of archaeology is to reconstruct and present the past as it was lived, warts and all. Too often that ideal has been restricted to the affairs and structures of the great and (often not so) good, ignoring what happened after the battles were won or lost. Everyday life carried on for the vast majority of people who cooked, built walls and fences, herded and tended animals, and made pottery, metal tools and foodstuffs. Each of these d...