Artifact (archaeology)

An artifact or artefact (from Latin phrase arte factum~ars skill + facere to make) is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest". "Artifact" is the only spelling in American English, whilst "artefact" is generally preferred elsewhere (see spelling differences).

In archaeology, however, the word has become a term of particular nuance and is defined as: an object recovered by archaeological endeavor, which may have a cultural interest. However, modern archaeologists take care to distinguish material culture from ethnicity, which is often more complex, as expressed by Carol Kramer in the dictum "pots are not people".

Examples include stone tools, pottery vessels, metal objects such as weapons, and items of personal adornment such as buttons, jewelry and clothing. Bones that show signs of human modification are also examples. Natural objects, such as fire cracked rocks from a hearth or plant material used for food, are classified by archeologists as ecofacts rather than as artifacts.

Artifact

Artifact (US), artefact or related terms may refer to:

Objects

Errors

Artifact (error)

In natural science and signal processing, an artifact is any error in the perception or representation of any visual or aural information introduced by the involved equipment or technique(s).

Computer science

In computer science, digital artifacts are anomalies introduced into digital signals as a result of digital processing.

Microscopy

In microscopy, artifacts are sometimes introduced during the processing of samples into slide form. See Artifact (microscopy)

Econometrics

In econometrics, which trades on computing relationships between related variables, an artifact is a spurious finding, such as one based on either a faulty choice of variables or an over extension of the computed relationship. Such an artifact may be called a statistical artifact. For instance, imagine a hypothetical finding that presidential approval rating is approximately equal to twice the percentage of citizens making more than $50,000 annually; if 60% of citizens make more than $50,000 annually, this would predict that the approval rating will be 120%. This prediction is a statistical artifact, since it is spurious to use the model when the percentage of citizens making over $50,000 is so high, and gross error to predict an approval rating greater than 100%.

Artifact (album)

Artifact is the sixth studio album by The Electric Prunes, released in 2002. It was their first studio album since 1969. The album is said to be the "real third" album by the band since past developments did not include material by the actual group. Sleeve notes state it "was the album we never got to make". This album is a return to most of the band's original sixties lineup.

Track listing

Personnel

References