Acultural artifact, orcultural artefact (seeAmerican and British English spelling differences), is a term used in thesocial sciences, particularlyanthropology,^[1]ethnology^[2] andsociology^{[citation needed]} for anything created byhumans which gives information about theculture of its creator and users.Artifact is the spelling inNorth American English;artefact is usually preferred elsewhere.^[3]

Cultural artifact is a more generic term and should be considered with two words of similar, but narrower, nuance: it can include objects recovered fromarchaeological sites, i.e.archaeological artifacts, but can also include objects of modern or early-modern society, orsocial artifacts. For example, in an anthropological context: a 17th-centurylathe, a piece offaience, or atelevision each provides a wealth of information about the time in which they were manufactured and used.

Cultural artifacts, whether ancient or current, have a significance because they offer an insight into: technological processes, economic development and social structure, among other attributes.

The philosopherMarx W. Wartofsky categorized artifacts as follows:^[4]

• primary artifacts: used in production (such as a hammer, a fork, a lamp or a camera);
• secondary artifacts: relating to primary artifacts (such as a user-manual for a camera);
• tertiary artifacts: representations of secondary artifacts (such as a picture of a user-manual for a camera).

Social artifacts, unlike archaeological artifacts, do not need to have a physical form (for examplevirtual artifact), nor to be of historical value (items created seconds ago can be classified as social artifacts).

• Habib, Laurence, and Line Wittek (2007). The portfolio as artifact and actor.Mind, Culture and Activity, Vol. 14, No. 4,ISSN 1074-9039.

• Hilpinen, Risto."Artifact". InZalta, Edward N. (ed.).Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.