Artifact vs. Fossil

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

Fossilnoun

The mineralized remains of an animal or plant.

Fossilnoun

(paleontology) Any preserved evidence of ancient life, including shells, imprints, burrows, coprolites, and organically-produced chemicals.

Fossilnoun

(linguistics) A fossil word.

Fossilnoun

(figuratively) Anything extremely old, extinct, or outdated.

Fossiladjective

Dug out of the earth; as, fossil coal; fossil salt.

Fossiladjective

preserved from a previous geological age; as, fossil water from deep wells; - usually implying that the object so described has had its substance modified by long residence in the ground, but also used (as with fossil water) in cases where chemical composition is not altered.

Fossiladjective

Like or pertaining to fossils; contained in rocks, whether petrified or not; as, fossil plants, shells.

Fossilnoun

A substance dug from the earth.

Fossilnoun

The remains of an animal or plant found in stratified rocks. Most fossils belong to extinct species, but many of the later ones belong to species still living.

Fossilnoun

A person whose views and opinions are extremely antiquated; one whose sympathies are with a former time rather than with the present.

Fossilnoun

someone whose style is out of fashion

Fossilnoun

the remains (or an impression) of a plant or animal that existed in a past geological age and that has been excavated from the soil

Fossiladjective

characteristic of a fossil

Fossil

A fossil (from Classical Latin: fossilis, literally 'obtained by digging') is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in amber, hair, petrified wood, oil, coal, and DNA remnants.