In this work, the anthropological theorist, Michael Brian Schiffer, presents a challenge to the social sciences. Through a broad range of examples, he demonstrates how theories of behaviour and communication have too often ignored the fundamental importance of objects in human life. In this work the author builds upon the premise that the most important feature of human life is not symbolic language but the incessant and diverse transactions which take place between people and myriad artefacts. The author shows that artefacts are involved in all modes of human communication - be they visual, auditory or tactile. By folding elements of postmodernist thought into a scientific framework, he creates concepts and models for understanding and analyzing communication and behaviour. Challenging established theories within the social sciences, Michael Brian Schiffer offers a reassessment of the centrality of materiality to everyday life.