Ecofacts

Ecofacts are natural remains found at archaeological sites that have cultural relevance but were not manufactured or altered by humans in the ways that artifacts are. They include plant remains such as seeds, nuts, charred wood, pollen and phytoliths; animal remains such as bones, teeth, shells; and environmental materials such as soils, sediments, ash, and charcoal. Ecofacts are distinguished from artifacts (human-made objects) and features (non-portable structures or deposits) by lacking intentional modification in form. However, they may be selected, used, or deposited by people, which makes them informative about past human behavior and environments.

In practice, ecofacts are central to archaeobotany and zooarchaeology. Analyses of seeds and wood help reconstruct diets, agriculture, and resource use; animal bones reveal hunting, domestication, butchery, and seasonality; pollen, phytoliths, and diatoms contribute to reconstructions of past climates and vegetation. Recovery often relies on specialized methods such as flotation to retrieve charred plant remains and micro-botanical analyses; dating and isotopic techniques may be applied to ecofacts to place them in a chronological framework.

Limitations include preservation biases that affect what is recoverable, and the need to interpret context carefully since ecofacts may have accumulated through natural processes as well as human activity. Despite these caveats, ecofacts provide important lines of evidence about past environments, economies, and lifeways, complementing artifacts and features to form a fuller picture of archaeological sites.