Artifacts are portable, while features are non-portable. Artifacts and features can both be made from any available material, with the primary distinction being portability. Features and artifacts differ from ecofacts. Ecofacts
are natural remains
, such as plants and animals.
What are ecofacts in anthropology?
In archaeology, a biofact (or ecofact) is organic material found at an archaeological site that carries archaeological significance. Biofacts are
natural objects found alongside artifacts or features
, such as animal bones, charcoal, plants, and pollen.
What is an example of a feature in Archaeology?
Features identified within archaeological excavations might include a
group of artifacts found together
, a patch of discolored soil, or a heap of unmodified rock. Features identified from aerial photography or field surveys might include odd patterns of vegetation growth or unexplained bumps or hollows in the earth.
What are some archaeological artifacts?
Examples include
stone tools, pottery vessels
, metal objects such as weapons and items of personal adornment such as buttons, jewelry and clothing. Bones that show signs of human modification are also examples.
What are artifacts ecofacts?
An artifact is any object made by a human being. Usually, it refers to an object that has cultural or historical interest. An ecofact, or biofact, is
any organic material that has been recovered and has cultural
Page 5 or historical significance.
What qualifies as an artifact?
Defining the Artifact.
Broadly defined it is
any ‘object’ created or modified by a human culture
. … Artifacts then are typically said to include: any and all forms of pottery, be they fully intact or fragmented, tools such as arrow heads, spears, and mace-heads, made of wood, stone, bone, flint or metal.
Is Debitage an artifact?
Debitage, the by-product flakes and chips from stone tool production, is
the most abundant artifact type in prehistoric archaeological sites
.
What can we learn from ecofacts?
The discovery of stone ecofacts has allowed archeologists to better understand
what types of environments early humans once lived in
. Petrified wood shows the type of trees that belonged in the area, which we can relate to the types of animals that were available to hunt in these days.
Who is the most famous archaeologist?
- Archaeologist: Howard Carter (Discovered King Tut’s Tomb)
- Howard Carter – Discovering Tut.
- Howard Carter – Archaeologist in Egypt.
- Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon – The Finding of King Tut’s Tomb.
- Lost City of the Incas (photos with music)
- Machu Picchu – The Lost City.
What are the three basic kinds of archaeological evidence?
All archaeological materials can be grouped into four main categories:
(1) artifacts, (2) ecofacts, (3) structures, and (4) features associated with human activity
. Artifacts and ecofacts are portable and thus can be removed from the site to be analyzed by specialists.
What is the main difference between an artifact and a feature?
Features are distinguished from artifacts in that they cannot be separated from their location without changing their form. Artifacts are portable, while features are non-portable. Artifacts and features can both be made from any available material, with the primary distinction being
portability
.
What is one difference between an artifact and a feature?
As nouns the difference between artifact and feature
is that
artifact is an object made or shaped by human hand
while feature is (label) one’s structure or make-up; form, shape, bodily proportions.
What are the different types of archaeology?
There are several different kinds of archaeology:
prehistoric, historic, classical, and underwater
, to name a few. These often overlap. For example, when archaeologists studied the wreck of the Civil War ironclad, the Monitor, they were doing both historic and underwater archaeology.
What is the most famous artifact?
In 1799, a group of French soldiers rebuilding a military fort in the port city of el-Rashid (or Rosetta), Egypt, accidentally uncovered what was to become one of the most famous artifacts in the world —
the Rosetta Stone
.
Can archeologists keep artifacts?
Legitimate archaeologists are in favor of these kinds of laws because they help protect the integrity of the site.
Professionals in the field do not keep, sell or trade artifacts they uncover
. Their goal is to record history, plain and simple, and if possible, move the objects as a collection for research and display.
What is the greatest artifact in the world?
The ancient world’s best-known artefact is
the death mask of a boy-king from 1323 BC
. It’s made from two layers of gold inlaid with glass and gemstones, and shows Tutankhamun’s face surmounted by a head-cloth with a cobra insignia. Museum of Ancient Antiquities.
