Type site

Archaeological map of distribution of the Celtic Hallstatt culture c. 800–400 BCE.

Hallstatt Amber Choker necklace.

19th century illustration of Hallstatt swords.

In archaeology a type site (also known as a type-site or typesite) 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 (the site after which the culture is named). 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 (see biological types) or locus typicus (type locality) in geology.

Notable type sites

Europe

• a river terrace of the River Somme (Abbeville, France), of the Abbevillian culture
• Aurignac (Haute Garonne, France), of the Aurignacian culture
• Hallstatt (Salzkammergut, Austria), of the Hallstatt culture
• La Tène, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, of the La Tène culture
• Vinča, Belgrade, Serbia, of the Vinča culture
• Abri de la Madeleine (Dordogne, France), of the Magdalenian culture
• Le Moustier (Dordogne, France), of the Mousterian culture
• Saint Acheul (near Amiens, France), of the Acheulean culture
• Butmir (near Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina), of the Butmir culture

Near East

• Tell Halaf, Syria, for the Halaf culture
• Tell Hassuna, Iraq, for the Hassuna culture
• Jemdet Nasr, Iraq, for the Jemdet Nasr period
• Tell al-`Ubaid, Iraq, for the Ubaid period
• Uruk, Iraq, for the Uruk period

Mesoamerica

• Uaxactun (Maya civilization, Dept.of Peten, Guatemala)
• Dzibilchaltun (Maya civilization, northern Yucatan, Mexico)
• Monte Alban (Zapotec civilization, Oaxaca,Mexico)

North America

• Folsom, New Mexico (Folsom Tradition), United States
• Clovis, New Mexico (Clovis culture), United States: generally accepted as the type site for one of the earliest human cultures in the North America
• La Plata County, Colorado (Basketmaker II period of the Anasazi culture), United States
• Barton Gulch of the Blackwater Draw Paleo-Indian culture
• Adena Mound (Adena culture), United States
• Borax Lake Site, for two of the earliest cultural traditions in California: the Post Pattern and Borax Lake Pattern.

Oceania

• New Caledonia, of the Lapita culture.

Southern Asia

• Kot Diji (pre-Harappanian civilization, Pakistan)
• Harappa (Indus civilization, Punjab, northeast Pakistan)

East Asia

• Banpo (Yangshao culture, Neolithic Yangshao culture, China)
• Liangzhu Town, near Hangzhou (Liangzhu culture, Neolithic, China)
• Songguk-ri (Middle Mumun culture, southern Korea)
• Suemura cluster of kilns--Kilns of Sue warew:ja:須恵器(Middle and Late Kofun period, Osaka, Japan)
• Sanage cluster of kilns—Kilns of Green Glazed Warew:ja:緑釉陶器 and Ash Glazed Warew:ja:灰釉陶器 (Nara and Heian period, Aichi Prefecture, Japan)