Gathering information termenology Flashcards
Artifacts
Artifacts are objects than can be picked up and moved without changing their appearance or structure. An artifact may be a statue, a broken pot, an arrowhead, or an ancient tool.
Features
Features are objects that were created by a culture that cannot be moved. These existing features include tombs, temples, walls, roads, and houses.
Ecofacts
Ecofacts are any natural objects that are found in the same area as the artifacts. Ecofacts can be bones or seeds.
Typology
Typology is the classification of artifacts according to their characteristics.
Seriation
Seriation is a relative dating method that places the artifacts of various sites from the same culture in chronological order.
Archaeometry
Archaeometry is the use of scientific methods such as radiocarbon dating to determine the age of an artifact. The two major methods used are relative dating and absolute dating.
Relative dating
Relative dating gives information about the age of an object in relation to other objects.
Absolute dating
Absolute dating determines the age of an object in years.
Curators
Curators usually handle objects with cultural, biological, or historical significance, such as sculptures, textiles, and paintings,
archivists
archivists handle mainly records and documents that are retained because of their importance and potential value in the future.
Archivists
Archivists collect, organize, and maintain control over a wide range of information deemed important enough for permanent safekeeping.