Some archaeologists replicate artifacts to better understand the processes, or steps, involved: this projectile point is a replica made of obsidian by the author of these pages.

Projectile points like this were serrated to make a series of sharp cutting edges designed to do the most damage and improve the likelihood of a successful hunt. When your life depends on hunting the food you need, advantages like this can be the difference between feast or famine.

Most archaeological finds are only the scattered refuse from tool manufacturing, or other day-to-day activities. Even without the finished product, an experienced archaeologist can rely upon their knowledge of the processes involved in manufacturing stone tools to analyse the flakes and 'detritus' and understand what stage of tool production was being undertaken. Sometimes only the initial stages, or 'roughing out' were undertaken at a particular site -- like a quarry site, for example -- with the finishing stages undertaken at base or home camp.

Archaeological interpretation is often based on 'educated guesswork' that relies on the results of experimental archaeology like tool reproduction.