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Cultural artifact or artefact 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 American English; ''artefact'' is usually preferred elsewhere. Cultural artifact is a more generic term and should be considered with two words of similar, but narrower, nuance: social artifact and archaeological artifact. Cultural artifacts can include objects recovered from archaeological sites, or archaeological artifacts, but can also include objects of modern or near-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. The philosopher Marx W. Wartofsky categorised artifacts as follows:〔Wartofsky, Marx W. (1979). Models: Representation and scientific understanding. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Reidel.〕 * 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 sculpture of a user-manual for a camera). Social artifacts, unlike archeological artifacts, do not have to have a physical form (see for example virtual artifact), nor do they have to be of historical value (items created seconds ago can be classified as social artifacts). == See also == * Art object * Biofact * Mentifact 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cultural artifact」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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