How do you make an artifact?

Question

Our semester project in my anthropology class is to make our own artifact and I need some ideas on something to make our design. If anyone has some ideas can you please help me out?

Answer 1

I suggest an ax as that requires only a flat stone & a tree limb. Find a reasonably flat rock shaped like an ax head, then cut a green tree limb about the size of a small ax handle. Now  saw an 8" splint in the big end & hollow out some of the excess wood in the handle & wrap wet cotton string around the part of the handle directly behind where the head will go (wet Rawhide would be best).  Now insert the new 'ax stone' & wrap the handle tightly with a wet cotton or raw hide binding.  You now have a stone age ax.  Learning flint knapping would be helpful, but is not essential.

Edit:

I forgot to mention that this is simply a replica of an artifact & not a true artifact.  An artifact must have some historical significance.

Answer 2

Well, anything a person makes is an artifact.  So, what type do you need or want to make?  Something prehistoric, historic, contemporary?  Without more specifics the field is wide open.  Personally, I have a preference for stone tools.

Answer 3

Pick up something.  Do something to it.  Congratulations, you have an artifact!  Artifacts are pretty much anything that a person has used.  They can be as complicated as the computer I'm typing on, or bits of it, or as simple as a rock that's been used as a hammer.

What are the parameters of your project?  Are you supposed to do an artifact from a specific culture or time period?  How big is it supposed to be?

Answer 4

Get some clay...make a clay pot...wait 2000 years.

Answer 5

Take anything preferrably precious you have in posession and dig it into the ground for an undecided ammount of time. Then find it, and report it as an authentic artefact from the 21st or 20th Century.