What Are Artifacts?

What are artifacts? Tools, clothing, and art objects are a few of the types of artifacts created by humans. Historical artifacts, such as ancient world artifacts, are able to give modern humans insight into a past where there was often no written language. Let us find out more about archaeological artifacts by finding the answers to related questions on the subject, for example, what are cultural artifacts, and which item is an example of an artifact?

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Archaeological artifacts help scholars understand ancient cultures. Archaeologists unearth ancient structures and use the historical artifacts found there to study the past.

Because many ancient societies did not actively document their histories, ancient world artifacts are often among the most important pieces of material evidence for how the people lived from day to day.

In archaeology, the generic term is “artifact,” although in museums, the comparable broad term is usually “object,” and in art history, it might be “artwork” or a more specialized term like “carving.” In various settings, the same object may carry several of these labels, with more precise terminology used for individual pieces or related groups.

Objects such as this bronze Scythian arrowhead can reveal a great deal about the societies that made and used them; Stock image

There are many types of artifacts, and they are commonly mistaken for ecofacts (such as discovered animal parts) and features (elements in the landscape that appear to be manmade, usually structural); all three can be discovered together at archaeological sites.

Many studies are carried out to better understand historical artifacts and share information with the scientific community and the public. However, examining ancient world artifacts can be hampered by theft and collection, which raises ethical concerns.

Which Item Is an Example of an Artifact?

Artifacts can originate from any archaeological environment, such as grave goods buried with the deceased, places where they were used as votive offerings, residential settings, or hoards, such as those found in wells, and even ancient rubbish dumps. Pottery containers, stone tools, metal objects such as weaponry, and personal ornamentation such as jewelry, buttons, and clothes are examples of types of artifacts.

Organic remains such as animal bones found within or near human settlements are not artifacts: archaeologists classify such natural materials as ecofacts, along with charcoal from a hearth or plant material utilized for nourishment.

This combination of the skeleton of a dog and two ceramic bowls from the late Iron Age site of Ban Non Wat is an example of how artifacts and ecofacts are often found together in excavations; Alison Kyra Carter, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Artifacts Are the Results of Behavioral and Transformative Processes

A behavioral process entails collecting raw resources, producing them for a specified purpose, and ultimately discarding them. Transformational processes start at the end of behavioral processes: this is when nature or people alter the artifact after it has been buried. Both processes shape what archaeologists call an artifact’s context.

Context is described using two terms: the matrix, the physical material surrounding the artifact, and the provenience, its precise position within that matrix. Context itself falls into two categories: primary context, where the deposit is undisturbed since burial, and secondary context, where later processes have altered the matrix and provenience.

Transformational Processes

Transformational processes are what turn primary context into secondary context. Features are non-portable human activity remnants such as hearths, roadways, deposits, ditches, and other similar relics. Ecofacts, also known as biofacts, are archaeologically significant organic remains not made or modified by humans, such as pollen or animal bones.

Manuports are natural items that have been relocated but not modified by people. Seashells brought inland or spherical pebbles relocated away from the water flow that created them are two examples of manuports.

These lines are frequently blurred; a bone extracted from an animal’s body is a biofact, yet a bone fashioned into a useful utensil is an artifact.

This Post-Medieval hand apple corer or fid made from the long bone of an animal, possibly a sheep is an example of how a biofact has been transformed into an artifact; The Portable Antiquities Scheme, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Early Stone Items

Likewise, there may be controversy about early stone items that are either simple handmade tools or occur naturally and happen to just look very similar to early human or Homo sapiens objects.

It can be difficult to discern between genuine man-made lithic artifacts and geofacts, which are naturally produced lithics that mimic man-made tools.

Artifacts can be authenticated by looking at the general features of man-made tools as well as the local features of the location. At sites, artifacts, features, and ecofacts can all be found together. Sites may feature various combinations of the three; many may contain all three, whereas others could only contain one or two.

Stone Age Animal Carving, Hayonim Cave (28000 BP). It was not unusual for artists of this period to incorporate pre-existing features such as shapes, color striations, or cracks in the rock into the image, which can make identification of the extent of human intervention quite difficult to determine; Gary Todd, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Quick Test: Artifact, Ecofact, Geofact, or Manuport?

The four terms cause confusion because all four can turn up side by side in the same excavation. Checking who or what moved the object, and whether it shows deliberate shaping, usually settles which applies:

Term	Moved or made by	Shows deliberate shaping or use?	Example
Artifact	Humans	Yes	A flaked stone blade
Ecofact (biofact)	Nature (though humans may collect or deposit them)	No	An unworked animal bone in a midden
Geofact	Natural forces (frost, pressure, water)	Looks worked, but is not	A stone fractured by frost that resembles a tool
Manuport	Humans, moved only	No	A seashell carried inland

Sites Can Have Distinct Borders

These include walls and moats, although this is not always the case. Sites can be differentiated by categories such as geography and previous roles. The presence of artifacts at these locations can provide researchers with essential archaeological knowledge. One example would be using the position and depth of buried artifacts to create a chronological order of prior events at the site.

As Carol Kramer put it, “pots are not people,” and modern archaeologists take care to separate material culture from ethnicity, which is frequently more nuanced.

Discovery of Historical Artifacts

An artifact is any item that was purposefully made, modified, or used by humans. Some relics are discovered by chance, such as by a farmer cultivating his field or a worker laying a foundation.

Archeological excavations and artifact recovery, on the other hand, usually follow well-established protocols meant to capture as much information about a location and its artifact collection as possible.

When excavating artifacts from a site, archeologists attempt to determine and record the context in which the piece was discovered.

Two archaeologists measuring and mapping a prehistoric grave during excavation; Swedish National Heritage Board from Sweden, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

To establish context, the artifact’s precise vertical and horizontal placements, its relationship to the strata in which it was discovered and any cultural influences that led to its location must all be documented.

Each excavation phase is documented with precise maps and images of the site. Some archeologists collect data on discovered artifacts on specially formulated data sheets, which are then input into a computer. Before being delivered to a laboratory for study, recovered artifacts are packed in bags (and occasionally allocated field numbers).

Archaeological excavation documentation showing the location of various materials and artifacts within a mound; Stowarzyszenie Podgorze, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The propensity of artifacts to deteriorate when dried too quickly makes retrieval of artifacts in damp or flooded locations more challenging. Some retrieved materials may require particular care even in dry caverns if they are to be maintained. It is critical that an archeologist conservator be onsite to aid in the recovery of artifacts in these circumstances. Plaster, resin, or latex rubber can be used to preserve delicate items.

This plaster cast of the void left by a dog killed by the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii is an early example of the use of casting materials to preserve fragile artifacts (photograph by Giorgio Sommer, c. 1874); Getty Center, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Once conserved, the artifacts are packed for transport off-site, where documentation begins as soon as possible. Each professional participating in an excavation is typically responsible for preparing a report on his or her own discoveries at the site.

These papers will be compiled and published as a report in a scientific journal or book. Archaeologists are frequently in charge of creating a report on how the location should be managed, explored further, or preserved.

Catalogue number, scale, and color matching chart for an Egyptian dynastic-Egyptian stone cosmetic jar with no rim or lid; Auckland Museum, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Analysis of Archaeological Artifacts

The type of artifact being analyzed influences artifact analysis. Lithic analysis is the study of stone artifacts, which are frequently in the form of tools. Stone artifacts are common in prehistoric periods and hence play an important role in addressing archaeological concerns about the past.

Lithic artifacts can assist archaeologists in studying how technology has evolved through time by displaying a diversity of tools and production processes from various eras of time.

Analyzing a Cuneiform nail; Santabiblia, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

However, this form of study can provide answers to more profound concerns, such as how civilizations were constructed and structured with respect to institutionalization and the distribution of wealth. Neutron activation, petrographic analysis, x-ray fluorescence, individual flake analysis, and mass analysis are among the lab methods that contribute to the lithic analysis process. Ceramic analysis, which is focused on the archaeological examination of pottery, is another sort of artifact analysis.

This sort of examination can assist archaeologists in learning about the basic materials used and how they were employed in the production of pottery. The laboratory techniques that enable this are mostly based on spectroscopy.

Raman microspectroscopic phase distribution map of an Egyptian blue paint layer from the church of St. Peter above Gratsch showing the colourants cuprorivaite (from Egyptian blue) and carbon black (plant black from underpainting) as well as a range of major, minor and trace compounds of Egyptian blue (from Petra Dariz, Thomas Schmid, Scientific Reports 11 (2021) 11296); Petra Dariz, Thomas Schmid, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Atomic absorption and x-ray fluorescence are some of the spectroscopic techniques employed. The ceramic study provides more than simply data on raw materials and pottery manufacture; it also provides insight into historical cultures’ technology, economics, and social structure.

There is also faunal analysis, which studies ecofacts in the form of animal remains. Faunal remains, like lithic artifacts, are very common in the area of archaeology. Because animals are traded in diverse marketplaces through time and over great distances, faunal research gives insight into commerce. Faunal remains from earlier complex societies can also give information on social position, ethnic differences, and food.

Depiction of a herder with cattle from the burial chamber of Zenue, army clerk under Thutmosis IV (c. 1422-1411 BCE); Maler der Grabkammer des Zenue, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Artifact dating and presenting a chronological timeline are critical components of artifact analysis. The many sorts of analyses mentioned above can all help with artifact dating. Relative dating and absolute (or chronometric) dating are the two basic methods of dating, alongside historical dating for eras with documented written evidence. When objects are put in a certain sequence in relation to one another, relative dating occurs, using techniques such as typology and seriation, whereas absolute dating methods, such as radiocarbon dating, dendrochronology, and thermoluminescence, can assign an actual age to an object or site, including in prehistoric periods with no written record.

Typology, one of the main techniques used in relative dating, classifies objects based on their substance and shape. This technique is founded on the concept that certain object styles correspond to specific time periods and that these styles vary slowly through time.

Ethics of Collecting and Repatriating Artifacts

Artifacts vs. Antiques

The two words get used as if they were interchangeable, but they answer different questions. An antique is defined mainly by age and market appeal: its value usually comes from craftsmanship, rarity, or the maker’s reputation, and it can change hands with no record of where it was found. An artifact’s value to researchers rests on its context, meaning exactly where it turned up and what it was found alongside. A pot lifted from a grave without recording that grave is still a valuable antique, but it has lost most of what it could have told archaeologists.

	Antique	Artifact
Definition	An object valued mainly for its age, craftsmanship, rarity, or demand	An object made, modified, or used by humans, studied mainly for its documented context
Archaeological context	Not required	Central to its value: exact findspot and association with other evidence
Provenance	Ownership history, not necessarily where it was found	Documented findspot and stratigraphic position
Research value	Limited, mainly aesthetic or historical interest	Central to reconstructing past cultures and building chronologies
Possible overlap: the same object can be both. An artifact removed from its findspot and sold or collected still functions as an antique, but it loses most of what it could have told archaeologists.

The gathering and plundering of artifacts have generated heated controversy in the archaeological community. In archaeological terminology, looting occurs when objects are taken from sites and privately acquired or sold before they can be examined and evaluated through legitimate scientific archaeology. The argument is around the contrast in ethics between archaeologists and collectors.

When it comes to artifacts, archaeologists are concerned with excavations, history, and laboratory work, whereas collectors are driven by a variety of personal interests. This prompts people to consider the archaeological issue, “Who possesses the past?”

Removal of Parthenon sculptures (1801) by agents of the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin in a watercolour by Edward Dodwell (between 1801 and 1805). The Greek state has long lobbied the British government for the return of the so-called Elgin marbles now held in the collection of the British Museum; Edward Dodwell, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

There are also ethical concerns regarding the display of objects in museums that were acquired or removed under contested circumstances, such as the British Museum’s display of the Parthenon Marbles. The exhibition of historical artifacts belonging to non-European native peoples by European museums, notably those captured during the European colonization of Africa, has also aroused ethical concerns.

Pan-African activists and governments have pressed European museums to return artifacts taken from Africa during the colonial era. Germany, for example, transferred ownership of more than 1,000 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria in 2022, with the first pieces physically returned that December.

Ancient world artifacts, whether precious or everyday, remain the clearest record of how people lived when no written account survives. Most of what they can tell us, though, comes from where they were found and what they were found alongside rather than from the objects alone, which is why archaeologists rely on context and comparison across sites to build a timeline of a culture rather than reading any single find in isolation.