A cultural artifact, or cultural artefact (see American and British English spelling differences), is a term used in the social sciences, particularly anthropology,ethnology and sociology[] for anything created by humans which gives information about the culture of its creator and users. Artifact is the spelling in North American English; artefact is usually preferred elsewhere.
![image](https://www.wikiquery.en-us.nina.az/image/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2lraXF1ZXJ5LmVuLXVzLm5pbmEuYXovaW1hZ2UvYUhSMGNITTZMeTkxY0d4dllXUXVkMmxyYVcxbFpHbGhMbTl5Wnk5M2FXdHBjR1ZrYVdFdlkyOXRiVzl1Y3k5MGFIVnRZaTh5THpJMEwwNXBhMjl1WDBReU1EQmZabkp2Ym5SZkpUSTRZV3RoSlRJNUxtcHdaeTh5TWpCd2VDMU9hV3R2Ymw5RU1qQXdYMlp5YjI1MFh5VXlPR0ZyWVNVeU9TNXFjR2M9LmpwZw==.jpg)
Cultural artifact is a more generic term and should be considered with two words of similar, but narrower, nuance: it can include objects recovered from archaeological sites, i.e. archaeological artifacts, but can also include objects of modern or early-modern society, or social artifacts. For example, in an anthropological context: a 17th-century lathe, a piece of faience, or a television each provides a wealth of information about the time in which they were manufactured and used.
Cultural artifacts, whether ancient or current, have a significance because they offer an insight into: technological processes, economic development and social structure, among other attributes.
Classification
The philosopher Marx W. Wartofsky categorised artifacts as follows:
- primary artifacts: used in production (such as a hammer, a fork, a lamp or a camera);
- secondary artifacts: relating to primary artifacts (such as a user-manual for a camera);
- tertiary artifacts: representations of secondary artifacts (such as a picture of a user-manual for a camera).
Social artifacts, unlike archaeological artifacts, do not need to have a physical form (for example (virtual artifact)), nor to be of historical value (items created seconds ago can be classified as social artifacts).
References
- Richard J. Watts (1981). The pragmalinguistic analysis of narrative texts. Gunter Narr Verlag. ISBN .
- Rob Amery. Warrabarna Kaurna!.
- Wartofsky, Marx W. (1979). Models: Representation and scientific understanding. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Reidel.
Further reading
External links
- Hilpinen, Risto. "Artifact". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.