Artifacts, Features, and Ecofacts of The 21st Century

When digging up ancient sites, archaeologists look at three main things: artifacts, features, and ecofacts. These are super important for describing what anthropologists find, especially when they go out and gather info that hasn't been recorded before. So, what are these things? Artifacts are objects people made and used in the past. Features are kinda like artifacts but you can't move them; think of soil stains from old storage pits or garbage dumps. Ecofacts are natural stuff like plant and animal remains that help us understand what people ate and how they lived (Greene & Moore, 2010).

Now, imagine future anthropologists digging up our stuff. They're definitely gonna find our artifacts, features, and ecofacts. Let's start with artifacts again. These future folks will probably find our tech gadgets with all their complicated insides. This will show them that we were pretty advanced and educated, able to create such fancy devices (Pearsall, 2008). So, they might conclude that people in the 21st century were literate and smart.

Next, let's talk about features. Remember, these are the non-movable artifacts. Future archaeologists might come across strange wooden poles connected by wires. What's up with that? They'll likely figure out that something was transmitted through those wires. They might guess that the poles and wires were used for communication, like radio waves. Maybe they even carried electricity from one place to another. This will tell them that we had some scientific know-how and that communication was a big deal for us.

Lastly, let's get into ecofacts. These are natural remains from plants and animals. Future archaeologists might find animal poop, showing that other creatures lived alongside us (White, 2008). If they find bird droppings from species like Blue Jays or Northern Cardinals, they'll know birds were around during our time. They might also find flower seeds, like pansy seeds, suggesting these flowers were common near buildings.