Archive vs. Artifact

Archivenoun

A place for storing earlier, and often historical, material. An archive usually contains documents (letters, records, newspapers, etc.) or other types of media kept for historical interest.

Archivenoun

The material so kept, considered as a whole (compare archives).

Archiveverb

To put into an archive.

Archivenoun

The place in which public records or historic documents are kept.

Archivenoun

Public records or documents preserved as evidence of facts; as, the archives of a country or family.

Archivenoun

a depository containing historical records and documents

Archiveverb

put into an archive

Archive

An archive is an accumulation of historical records – in any media – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of that person or organization.

Artifactnoun

An object made or shaped by human hand.

Artifactnoun

(archaeology) An object, such as a tool, weapon or ornament, of archaeological or historical interest, especially such an object found at an archaeological excavation.

Artifactnoun

Something viewed as a product of human conception or agency rather than an inherent element.

Artifactnoun

A structure or finding in an experiment or investigation that is not a true feature of the object under observation, but is a result of external action, the test arrangement, or an experimental error.

Artifactnoun

(biology) A structure or appearance in protoplasm due to death, method of preparation of specimens, or the use of reagents, and not present during life.

Artifactnoun

An object made or shaped by some agent or intelligence, not necessarily of direct human origin.

Artifactnoun

(computing) A perceptible distortion that appears in a digital image, audio or video file as a result of applying a lossy compression algorithm.

Artifactnoun

A product of human workmanship; - applied esp. to the simpler products of aboriginal art as distinguished from natural objects.

Artifactnoun

Any product of human workmanship; - applied both to objects made for practical purposes as well as works of art. It is contrasted to natural object, i.e. anything produced by natural forces without the intervention of man.

Artifactnoun

A structure or appearance in protoplasm due to death, method of preparation of specimens, or the use of reagents, and not present during life.

Artifactnoun

an object, oservation, phenomenon, or result arising from hidden or unexpected causes extraneous to the subject of a study, and therefore spurious and having potential to lead one to an erroneous conclusion, or to invalidate the study. In experimental science, artifacts may arise due to inadvertant contamination of equipment, faulty experimental design or faulty analysis, or unexpected effects of agencies not known to affect the system under study.

Artifactnoun

a man-made object taken as a whole