Type site
In archaeology a type site (also known as a type-site or typesite) is a site that is considered the model of a particular archaeological culture. For example, the type site of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A culture is Jericho, in the West Bank.
A type site contains artifacts, in an assemblage, that are typical of that culture. Type sites are often the first or foundational site discovered about the culture they represent. The use of this term is therefore similar to that of the specimen type in biology (see biological types) or locus typicus (type locality) in geology.
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Notable type sites
Europe
- a river terrace of the River Somme (Abbeville, France), of the Abbevillian culture
- Aurignac (Haute Garonne, France), of the Aurignacian culture
- Hallstatt (Salzkammergut, Austria), of the Hallstatt culture
- La Madelaine (Dordogne, France), of the Magdalenian culture
- Le Moustier (Dordogne, France), of the Mousterian culture
- St.Acheul (near Amiens, France), of the Acheulean culture
Mesoamerica
- Uaxactun (Maya civilization, Dept.of Peten, Guatemala)
- Dzibilchaltun (Maya civilization, northern Yucatan, Mexico)
- Monte Alban (Zapotec civilization, Oaxaca,Mexico)
North America
- Folsom, New Mexico (Folsom Tradition), United States
- Clovis, New Mexico (Clovis culture), United States - generally accepted as the type site for the earliest human culture in the New World
- La Plata County, Colorado (Basketmaker II period of the Anasazi culture), United States
Oceania
- New Caledonia, of the Lapita culture.
Southern Asia
- Kot Diji (pre-Harappanian civilization, Pakistan)
- Harappa (Indus civilization, Punjab, northeast Pakistan)
Categories
Methods and principles in archaeology