Type site


In archaeology a type site 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 is also often the eponym. For example, the type site of the pre-Celtic/Celtic Bronze Age Hallstatt culture is the lakeside village of Hallstatt, Austria.
In geology the term is used similarly for a site considered to be typical of a particular rock formation etc.
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 or locus typicus in geology.

Notable type sites

Europe