ecofact

English[edit]

ecofact (plural ecofacts)

(archaeology) A biological artifact not altered by humans, but which may be indicative of human occupation.
- 1963, Missouri Archaeological Society, Research Series, Issues 1–13, page 57:
  The fact that two periods of occupation are in evidence, both having similar ecofact and material remains, suggests that the occupation and the behavior carried on there are part of an established cycle of seasonally based behavior.
- 2009, Nancy Marie White, Archaeology For Dummies, part 1 Archaeology: Seeing Past People Today, chapter 1 What Archaeology Is, page 12:
  Ecofact is a term archaeologists invented to classify natural objects used by humans without modification. Animal bones left for dinner or pollen from gathered plants are ecofacts. … Even phosphates or other chemicals in the soil are ecofacts showing that people threw their organic waste on the ground.