artifacts
UK: ˈɑːtɪfækts | US: ˈɑːrtɪfækts
n. objects made by humans, typically of historical or cultural interest
n. (computing) unintended byproducts of a process, such as errors in data
The word "artifacts" originates from Latin artificium (craftsmanship), combining ars (art/skill) and facere (to make). The morpheme arti- reflects human skill, while -fact denotes creation. Over time, it evolved to describe human-made objects, especially those of archaeological significance. The plural suffix -s standardizes it in English. The term later expanded into computing to denote unintended outputs, metaphorically extending the idea of "human-made traces."
The museum displayed ancient artifacts from the Mayan civilization.
Archaeologists carefully documented the artifacts found at the dig site.
The software update reduced visual artifacts in the rendered images.
These pottery shards are among the oldest artifacts discovered in the region.
Digital artifacts in the scan made the diagnosis challenging.