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06 Artifacts and Ecofacts

Artifacts are objects made or modified by humans, while ecofacts are objects created by organisms other than humans, such as animal bones or plant remains. Examples of artifacts include tools, pottery, and personal items. Artifacts provide information about past cultures and help date archaeological sites. They can be found in graves, hoards of buried items, votive offerings, and middens. Ecofacts include unmodified natural objects that have been moved by humans. Together, artifacts and ecofacts provide clues about past human activities and environments.

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660 views23 pages

06 Artifacts and Ecofacts

Artifacts are objects made or modified by humans, while ecofacts are objects created by organisms other than humans, such as animal bones or plant remains. Examples of artifacts include tools, pottery, and personal items. Artifacts provide information about past cultures and help date archaeological sites. They can be found in graves, hoards of buried items, votive offerings, and middens. Ecofacts include unmodified natural objects that have been moved by humans. Together, artifacts and ecofacts provide clues about past human activities and environments.

Uploaded by

Mae Falcunitin
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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ARTIFACTS AND

ECOFACTS
By: ROSE ANN E. MANALO-ESCARO, LPT
ARTIFACT
ARTIFACT
ECOFACT
ARTIFACT
ECOFACT
ECOFACT
ARTIFACTS
• An artifact is any object made or modified by a
human culture, individual or group. Often artifacts
or object is recovered long after the time it served
its purpose, through an archeological endeavor or
even by accident or chance.
• Examples of artifacts includes stone tools, pottery
vessels, metal objects and items of personal
adornment such as jewelry and clothing.
Artifacts gives information about
previous cultures and civilizations.
Artifacts aid in dating earth’s time
period and in historical record
keeping.
Sources of Artifacts
•Grave goods (personal items buried along with
the body)
•Hoards
•Votive Offerings
•From any archeology feature such as a pit, wall,
ditch
•A Midden (a landfill)
Sources of Artifacts
• Grave goods (personal items buried along with the body)
➢Most grave goods recovered by archeologist consist of
inorganic objects such as pottery, stone and metal tools but
there is a evidence that already decayed organic objects
were also placed in ancient tombs.
➢Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items
buried along with the body. They are usually personal
possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into
the afterlife or offerings to the gods.
Grave goods
Sources of Artifacts
Hoard •Hoards- A hoard or "wealth
deposit" is an archaeological
term for a collection of
valuable objects or artifacts,
sometimes purposely buried
in the ground, in which case
it is sometimes also known
as a cache
Sources of Artifacts
Votive Offering • Votive Offerings
➢ A votive deposit or votive
offering is an object left in a
sacred place for ritual purposes.
A contemporary example would
be that of the Roman Catholic
Church where offerings are made
either to fulfill a vow, or are
objects given to the Church in
gratitude.
Sources of Artifacts
Midden • A Midden (a landfill)
➢Middens, dumps which contain
human waste, can also contain a
variety of archaeological
material, including animal bone,
feces, shell, botanical material,
vermin, sherds, lithics, and
other ecofacts associated with
past human habitation.
ECOFACTS
•Biofacts or ecofacts are objects of
archaeological interest created
by organisms other than humans,
such as those
from seeds or animal bones.
ECOFACTS
•Natural objects which have been
moved but not changed by humans
are called manuports. Examples
would include seashells moved inland
or rounded pebbles placed away from
the tidal action that would have
fashioned them.

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