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This photograph shows some common every-day pottery from the Early Bronze Age (3,300-2,000 BCE). Because archaeologists find more pottery sherds than anything else in an excavation, it is the main source of information for dating the architecture of an ancient building. It works like this: the shapes of ceramic vessels are known to have changed over time and to have been different in different regions. As a result, the shape and fabric (i.e., clay used) of a vessel fragment can tell an archaeologist when it was made and, by extension, when the soil in which it was found was deposited. The tower-shaped vessel in this photograph is an incense burner. Coal would be put inside and it would heat the incense that was put on top, spreading a pleasant aroma.