artifact

An object made by people long ago, often found by digging in the ground.

• The museum displays ancient artifacts.
• They found a bronze artifact near the old wall.
• These artifacts tell us how people cooked thousands of years ago.

Similar words: relic

Common phrases: ancient artifact, roman artifact, historical artifact

An object that people have made or changed, rather than something formed by nature.

• A plastic spoon is a human artifact.
• The collection includes artifacts made from recycled metal.
• Every artifact reflects choices made by its creator.

Similar words: human-made object

Common phrases: human artifact, modern artifact, cultural artifact

Something seen in a test that comes from the testing process rather than the thing being studied.

• The bright spot was an artifact.
• A damaged lens produced artifacts in the measurements.
• Researchers checked whether the result was an artifact of their equipment.

How to use it: artifact of something (The apparent growth was an artifact of the measuring method.)

Common phrases: experimental artifact, artifact of something, measurement artifact

An unwanted mark, sound, or change caused by the way an image, video, or recording is processed.

• The image has visible artifacts.
• Heavy compression introduced artifacts into the video.
• We removed the audio artifacts before releasing the recording.

Similar words: distortion

Common phrases: compression artifact, visual artifact, audio artifact