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The study of these objects is an important part of the field of archaeology, although the degree to which they represent the social groupings that created them is a subject over which archaeological theoreticians argue. Focusing on the artefact alone can produce very intensive and enlightening work on the object itself but can ignore surrounding factors which may shed further light on the manufacturing society. Traditional Museum s are often criticised for being too artefact-led, that is by displaying items without any contextual information about their purpose or the people who made them. Artefacts can come from a number of sources:
Artefacts are distinguished from Feature s, which are nonportable remains of human activity, such as Hearth s, Road s, or House remains, and from Biofact s (also called Ecofact s), which are objects of archaeological interest made by other organisms, such as Seed s or Animal Bone . Natural objects which have been moved but not changed by humans are called Manuport s. Examples would include seashells moved inland or rounded pebbles placed away from the water action that would have fashioned them. These distinctions are often blurred; for instance, a bone removed from an animal carcass is a biofact, but a bone carved into a useful implement is an artefact. Similarly there can be debate over early stone objects which may be crude artefacts or which may be naturally occurring phenomena that only appear to have been used by humans. SEE ALSO |
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