Some History of Archaeology's Most Fundamental Concept: Artifact

Summary

This is an abstract from the "2025 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of David J. Meltzer Part II" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The concept ‘artifact’ is arguably the core concept of archaeology; without artifacts it is doubtful there would be an archaeology discipline as we know it today. Three questions warrant exploration: First, what is the history of how we determine that particular things are artifacts? Second, what is the history of the term? And third, what is the history of definitions of artifact in the general archaeological literature and what is that history in introductory textbooks? The literature on distinguishing artifacts from geofacts among broken rocks is extensive and continues to grow as new attributes are evaluated. The term ‘artifact’ gained in popularity in the early twentieth century as it replaced ‘implement,’ ‘ornament,’ ‘relic,’ ‘antiquity,’ and the like. Definitions in the second half of the nineteenth century emphasized an artifact was “made” or “manufactured”; use wear and portability were not mentioned. Twentieth-century introductory textbooks focus on one or more of “made,” “modified,” and “used” and often include use-wear and portability as definitive attributes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2025 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of David J. Meltzer Part II   •
• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51350