material culture
Sign in to savephysical aspect of culture in the objects and architecture that surround people
~13 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Pottery is an easily recognised form of material culture as it is commonly found as archaeological artifacts, representing cultures of the past.
Material culture is culture manifested by the physical objects and architecture of a society. The term is primarily used in archaeology and anthropology, but is also of interest to sociology, geography and history. The field considers artifacts in relation to their specific cultural and historic contexts, communities and belief systems. It includes the usage, consumption, creation and trade of objects as well as the behaviors, norms and rituals that the objects create or take part in.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “material culture” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.