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Understanding Artifacts in Archaeology

This quiz tests your knowledge of artifacts in archaeology, including their definitions, examples, and cultural significance.

1 In ________, an artifact is an object recovered by some archaeological endeavor, which may have a cultural interest.

2 Other examples include ________ that show signs of human modification, fire cracked rocks from a hearth or plant material used for food.

3 [[Image:Mycenaean stirrup vase Louvre AO19201.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Imported Mycenaean stirrup vase found in the acropolis of Ras Shamra (________), 1400-1300

4 Examples include stone tools such as projectile points, pottery vessels, metal objects such as guns, and items of personal adornment such as ________, jewellery and clothing.

💡 Interesting Facts

  • the Little Thetford flesh-hook is a late Bronze-age (1000–701 BC) artefact discovered in 1929 in Little Thetford, near Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
  • the earliest example of humans having the skill to manufacture artifacts with a compound glue was found in Sibudu Cave, South Africa.
  • the missing terminal of the golden Sedgeford Torc was found thirty-nine years after the original discovery of the artifact.
  • the Hartog Plate (pictured), a pewter plate, is the oldest-known artefact of European exploration in Australia.
  • although archaeologists in Singapore have discovered many artifacts, they do not have government support for their work, and there is no centralised place to store the artifacts.
  • New Jersey's Museum of Early Trades and Crafts houses a collection of over 8,000 tools and artifacts used before 1860 that had been collected by Agnes and Edgar Land over a 50-year span.
  • Mississippian stone statuary (examples pictured), artifacts made by members of the Mississippian culture (800 to 1600 CE), are figurines made of polished stone in the shape of humans.
  • artifacts discovered at Mound Bottom, Tennessee show that the site was part of a vast Native American trading network extending to the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Appalachian Mountains during the Mississippian era.