29 Hidden Facts About Artifacts That Only Archaeologists Know

Many ancient civilizations have left us numerous artifacts, a few of which we have already discovered, and others are still buried and being discovered.

An artifact is simply something that is made by a human and it can be anything from bone carved artifacts to stone artifacts, all of which come into the count. These man-made tools are essential because they give us glimpses of the technology and the minds that were being used in those times.

Humans have always been interested in knowing about the past. There is a good reason for that.

When we know about the architecture and the creative minds that were utilized in the past, it gives us an idea of how people lived during that time. From the start of the world to now, thousands of civilizations have lived on this planet, and they have left their mark, either in the form of art or artifacts.

We can say that the artifacts are the only living embodiments of the civilizations that existed around 100 years ago.

Such artifacts or metal objects are of great delight to scholars who are always on the search for more information about humans. From these ancient artifacts, we can find out the very essence and the story of human growth and how we reached where we are today.

An ancient civilization, such as the ancient Egyptian kings, often used huge burial sites. These sites help modern archaeologists not just learn about the culture of ancient Egypt but also draw parallels between then and now.

Interestingly, rulers believed that they needed food in the afterlife, and therefore, after the death of a ruler, their family buried food along with soldiers to provide security to the pharaohs in the afterlife.

Archaeologists often face a number of problems when looking for an artifact. There is a very slim difference between an artifact and naturally occurring lithics.

It can often be difficult to differentiate between the two. For example, ancient Egyptians often made weapons from bones; that's an artifact.

A bone or any tool that has received any kind of human modification is regarded as an artifact, whereas just a bone that is found buried is not an artifact, it's just a bio fact.

Very often, animal carcasses that get buried for a long time can resemble an object or look like man-made tools. In such cases, it becomes difficult to identify the object as a carcass or as an artifact.

Artifacts are not just an important part of the past but also very important for the future. They are a living example of how far humans have come and how far they are yet to go.

Importance Of Artifacts

Many natural objects are of archaeological interest, some of them are remains of animals, which helps to determine the structure of animals other can just be artifacts from history made of any material.

• Archaeologists often get confused between ecofacts and artifacts. These two differ greatly, but the difference between them can also get very slim, and it can be difficult to separate one from another.
• One great example of artifacts is the fire-cracked rocks used in ancient times, whereas an eco fact is simply a buried plant material.
• A bone removed from an animal carcass is a biofact, whereas if that bone is used by humans for passing clues to their family during a hunt or for anything else, it's an artifact.
• When we talk about eco facts, we are talking about tools or objects that are made by other organisms. They can be rounded pebbles or just stones arranged in a fashion.
• Carved stones, stone tools, any kind of weapon, pottery, painting, art, or wood art, made in history are artifacts.
• Many people argue about the importance of artifacts and why so much time and resources are being spent on the search for these artifacts. The real reason behind finding artifacts is that they tell us the story of the day-to-day objects that we are using. For example, the paper didn't reach the smooth white finish just in one go. During ancient times, people used leaves, then barks, and then they learned how to make paper from trees, and through that process, today we have a perfect white piece extracted from wood, used for writing, called paper.
• These objects from history, also tell us about the diet that ancient people followed. Since many of the things we eat today are, in some way or another, related to what was eaten or hunted during ancient times.
• An archaeological endeavor is solely dedicated to finding different kinds of metal objects or written carvings. This is because these carvings show a pattern. They tell us about the connection between different communities within a civilization and how ancient people shared their knowledge with one another. Many stone-carved artifacts also tell about the migration of various communities from one continent to another.
• During one such archaeological excavation, experts found dinner crockery from the year 1017. This crockery told the story of the evolution of eating tools among humans and how different communities used different kinds of eating tools.
• One of the main reasons why we look back at our history is also to learn their ways and try to modify them. A big chunk of archaeological interest lies with the ancient Egyptians. This is because of the architectural buildings they made. The ancient Egyptian pyramids are a symbol of the great minds that the ancient Egyptians had.

Historical Significance Of Artifacts

Many of the artifacts that we find today have great historical significance and tell the tale of what the human minds of those times carried.

• Artifacts from the time period BC tell the stories of the religion and the cultural practices that were being practiced even before the birth of Christ. This story was revealed when a group of French troops accidentally discovered an artifact from 196 B.C.
• The Rosetta Stone is one of the most important artifacts discovered by humankind. The stone itself is very famous due to the carvings made on it. These carvings talk about a royal message that was written by a priest at that time on behalf of the ruler of the Ptolemaic empire in ancient Egypt.
• The finding of the library of Ashurbanipal told a lot about the modern libraries that are being used today. In contrast to today's libraries, which are all about books made of paper, in earlier times this was not the case. During ancient times, speaking of the era of 668 B.C., books were simply clay tablets on which stories would be written. In the 1850s, archaeologists found a clay library and recovered up to 3000 pieces from the ancient kingdom of Assyria in Iraq.
• Thus, these discovered objects, whether they are natural objects such as biofacts or ecofacts or artifacts, not only tell us about the earlier times but also teach us the true story of the evolution of the things that we use today.
• It's also very important to pay special attention to artifacts made by humans in the field of medicine. This tells us about ancient diseases and how humans overcame plagues in the middle-ages.
• Biofacts are also crucial, as they paved the way toward modern human anatomy. These biofacts and human remains from ancient times helped many scholars study human anatomy and the changes in human anatomy over those years.

Examples Of Famous Artifacts

Humans are curious beings, and our curiosity not only helped us survive but also made us thrive. For many years, archaeologists have been on a quest to recover artifacts of value to learn more about our past.

This practice has been going on for millions of years now. Around 3 million years ago, lomekwi 3 gave archaeologists the best gift they could have expected from Kenya! The world's oldest artifact was recovered from Kenya.

• In archaeology, an artifact is just an object that has received any kind of human modification. Artifacts are being found every other day now. However, the first artifact that was received by humans was around 3 million years ago and it was from the Australopithecus culture.
• The first artifact that humans found was an ancient stone tool from lomekwi 3.
• Counting from ancient times, there are only a very few cities that are still functional and have not lost the race of time. Many cities in Egypt and similar cultures are now just abandoned lands. One such is the city of Troy, which is also a very famous discovery in the history of archaeology.
• The city of Troy was home to the kingdom of Troy, and it also withstood the war between the kingdoms of Troy and Mycenaean Greece. From the remains of the city of Troy, archaeologists found various treasures and objects that once belonged to the ruler of Troy, known as King Priam.
• A lot of ancient Egyptians were also known in a similar way. Ancient Egyptians believed in many things, one of which was that once a person is dead, it still requires food, and therefore, during those times, they often used to bury food in either the tombs of their house or near the dead body in ancient Egypt. Therefore, archaeologists recovered human carcasses with animal bones, seeds, and other food-related items.
• Such foods and buried items also tell us about the farming practices of people during that time. Seeing as the tombs of ancient Egypt were filled with food grains, it is assumed that their lands were very fertile and gave an exceptionally good yield.
• When it comes to Egpyt, their cultural practices are more intriguing than others. Their burial sites were lavish, and they spent a lot while constructing the tombs of their beloved rulers.
• In the year 1922, a team of archaeologists found the tomb of King Tut, who died in the year 1323 B.C. at the age of 18.
• The young King Tut, came into power very quickly, at the age of nine years old, and the making of the tomb indicates that the death of the king was unexpected. This can be explained as there are still microbes on the walls of these tombs, which must have been formed by sealing the tomb way earlier, without giving the paint much time to dry.

The Rarest Artifact In The World

The Egyptian tombs of pharaohs were so lavish and had such treasures that, in order to safeguard them from robbers, royals of those times often used to spread rumors that whoever entered the tomb would suffer from the dead pharaoh's curse.

• Machu Picchu is one of the rarest archaeological sites on the planet.
• The human remains from A.D. 79, in the city of Pompeii during Roman times, tell the story of people who got buried under the ash due to volcanic eruptions.
• The Dead Sea Scrolls are also one of the rarest artifacts, discovered by a shepherd in the '40s.
• The buried city of Akrotiri is also one of the wonderful discoveries from which many materials and artifacts were recovered.