Hi all,
My take on this - I've always disliked the term "ecofact" and tried to avoid
using it. The separation of "artefacts" and "ecofacts" is unnecessary and
even misleading, because the degree of human involvement in the making of an
assemblage of some material is not always apparent and in any case depends
on the context.
Specifically in our field of research, referring to an archaeological bone
collection as "ecofacts" always seemed to me to relegate them to a lower
level of interest (relative to human-made things), or merely to mask the
important information that "unmodified" bone may reveal on ancient humans.
Of course, these problems are the same when using "biofact", "exofact" and
the like. I simply do not see the need for such terms, but perhaps one of
you can point it out.
Best,
Reuven
-----Original Message-----
From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Haskel Greenfield
Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2019 7:46 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ZOOARCH] Ecofact & biofact
Hi. Interesting idea. My memory is that exofact was introduced into the
archaeological literature in the early 1960s (1963?) by Lewis Binford to
indicate plant and animals remains from archaeological context. It could
include human and natural information. It was coined to distinguish them
from artefacts, which could also include biological materials such as bone
tools.
Hope this helps.
Best
Haskel
Haskel Greenfield
Distinguished Professor
University of Manitoba
Canada
Sent from my iPhone
> On Sep 30, 2019, at 7:44 PM, Norbert Eeltink <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
> Dear list,
>
> I have been confronted with a discussion about terminology, specific the
terms ecofact and biofact. The former is widely used, but the latter is a
rather uncommon or even unknown term here in the Netherlands. We are used to
the term ecofact, but growing international contacts have started to
introduce the term biofact. The reception differs. Some love it, some hate
it, some feel we should stick to what we know and there is even an opinion
that the term biofact is inappropiate. Furthermore, many consider them to be
synonyms which can be used as one prefers, while others see a difference. It
has been argued for example that biofact is a general term describing any
organic find that was not altered by humans and that a ecofact is a organic
find that contains specific information about (relations in) the
environment.
>
> This discussion has caught my interest, since terminolgy is very important
in any field of research and I think we should have an open mind to new
developments like this. So I would like to know if members of our wonderful
list have any ideas or opinions about this which they like to share?
>
> Best,
>
> Norbert
>
>
> --
>
> drs. N.T.D. Eeltink
>
> senior KNA-archeoloog & KNA-specialist fysische antropologie
>
> Aestimatica
>
> Archeologie, Osteologie, Museumadvies en Cultuurhistorie
>
> www.aestimatica.nl
>
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