Materials word list

The table below presents a categorised list of material types. The list can also be downloaded as Excel spreadsheet and PDF files:

Archaeological materials word list (XLSX | 24.64 KB)

Archaeological materials word list (print version) (PDF | 110.98 KB)

Material ID code	Material Class	Object Class	Material Type (sub-class)	Material Type (sub-class) - Alternative common usage	Material Type description (scope note)	Material Detail (narrow term) examples
1	Stone	Geological	Natural stone	Stone	All unworked stone, including building rubble; excluding gemstone	Chalk, chert, coal, flint, granite, greenstone, ironstone, limestone, sandstone, shale, slate
1.1	Stone	Geological	Modified stone	Burnt flint; burnt stone	All modified, natural, unworked stone, such as burnt flint, chert or other stone; excluding gemstone	Burnt flint
1.2	Stone	Artefact	Worked stone		All worked stone objects such as building stone, grave markers, querns, spindle whorls, tesserae; includes ground stone objects such as polished axes; including stone working waste; excluding knapped stone objects or objects utilised for knapping; excluding objects made of gemstone or slate	Chalk, coal, granite, greenstone, jadeite, limestone, sandstone, shale
1.3	Stone	Artefact	Knapped stone	Worked flint	All objects made of knapped stone, commonly fine-grained chert (often flint) worked into tools (typically, although not exclusively, prehistoric) such as handaxes, scrapers, arrowheads, gunflints; including knapped fine-grained volcanic stone such as obsidian; including knapped and polished objects such as flint knives; including knapping waste; includes stones utilised for the knapping process, such as flint or quartzite percussors	Chert, flint, greensand chert, Langdale tuff, obsidian
1.4	Stone	Artefact	Worked slate	Slate	All finished slate objects and slate working debris, including e.g. roof tiles, styli; slate working waste	Worked slate
1.5	Stone	Artefact	Stone aggregate		All manufactured stone composites	Asphalt; concrete
2	Gem	Gem	Gem		All precious and semi-precious stones; organic gem material such as amber, jet and pearl	Amber, amethyst, carnelian, diamond, emerald, jet, pearl, ruby, sapphire
3	Earth mix	Ecofact	Earth mix	Clay; ochre	Unmodified clays or soil material, including pigments such as ochre
3.1	Earth mix	Ecofact	Burnt clay		All fragments of accidentally or incidentally burnt clay or other earth mix; in initial recording, can be used as a general term from which Clay lining and Daub can be extracted following further study
3.2	Earth mix	Artefact	Clay lining		All fragments of preserved clay lining from structural features such as hearths, ovens, kilns etc
3.3	Earth mix	Artefact	Daub		All fragments of clay used in wattle and daub construction, often with characteristic wattle impressions
3.4	Earth mix	Artefact	Mortar	Mortar/plaster	All fragments of mortar; used as a binding material in construction	Mortar
3.5	Earth mix	Artefact	Plaster	Mortar/plaster	All fragments of plaster; used to cover wall and ceiling surfaces	Plaster
4	Ceramic	Artefact	Ceramic		All ceramic products; ceramic substances that do not fit the related Material Types specified here should be identified as Ceramic
4.1	Ceramic	Artefact	Ceramic building material		All ceramic objects used structurally, including brick, drainpipes, roof furniture, tesserae, tile	Brick; chimney pot; tile
4.2	Ceramic	Artefact	Fired clay		All fired clay objects, including casting moulds, figurines, loomweights, kiln furniture; excluding building material, pipe-clay and building material
4.3	Ceramic	Artefact	Pipe clay		All objects made of pipe-clay, including figurines, tobacco pipes
4.4	Ceramic	Artefact	Pottery	Pot	All fired clay vessels	Earthenware, porcelain, refined earthenware, stoneware, terracotta
4.5	Ceramic	Artefact	Sanitary ware	Sanitary ware	Ceramic objects associated with ablutions and waste disposal
5	Glass	Artefact	Glass		All objects made of glass, including beads, vessels, window panes; also includes enamel and faience; if it cannot be identified separately, glass manufacturing and glass working waste can be included here until specifically identified during analysis	Cristallo; faience; enamel
6	Metal	Artefact	Metal		All objects made of metal; metals that do not fit the Material Types specified here should be identified as Metal
6.1	Metal	Artefact	Copper		All objects made of pure copper
6.2	Metal	Artefact	Copper alloy		All objects made of any copper alloy
6.3	Metal	Artefact	Gold		All objects made of gold or gold alloy
6.4	Metal	Artefact	Iron		All objects made of iron or iron alloys such as steel
6.5	Metal	Artefact	Lead		All objects made of lead or lead alloy, such as cloth seals, weights; all lead fitments or ancillary components such as flashing or window cames	Lead, pewter
6.6	Metal	Artefact	Silver		All objects made of silver or silver alloy
6.7	Metal	Artefact	Tin		All objects made of tin or tin alloy
6.8	Metal	Artefact	White metal		All objects made of white metals, such as aluminium; can be used for silver/tin or silver/tin alloys when the metal type has not been ascertained	Aluminium
7	Industrial debris	By-product	Industrial debris		All by-products from industrial processes, such as clinker, coal debris; by-product substances that do not fit, or cannot be identified as the more specific Material Types specified here, should be identified as Industrial debris	Clinker
7.1	Industrial debris	By-product	Industrial debris (glass)		All debris accruing from manufacturing or working glass	Furnace lining; slag
7.2	Industrial debris	By-product	Industrial debris (metal)		All debris accruing from metal production and metal working, such as slag, hammerscale; also furnace lining	Smithing slag; Furnace slag; hammerscale
8	Synthetic material	Artefact	Synthetic material		Artificial composite materials, including compounds, polymers, synthetic materials	Plastic; nylon
9	Human	Human	Human remains	Human bone	All human remains	Human bone; human hair; teeth; calculus
10	Animal	Ecofact	Vertebrate remains	Animal remains	All vertebrate non-bone remains, other than human, unmodified for utilisation; such as vertebrate shells (eg turtle), bird eggshell or fat.	Eggshell; fat; fish-scales; fur; gut; hair; skin
10.1	Animal	Ecofact	Animal bone		All unworked bone, teeth or similar substances related to vertebrate animals, including amphibians, birds, fish and mammals; including bone that is accidentally modified, eg with butchery or chopping marks; can be used for eg antler and horn until more detailed identification has been carried out	Bone; claws; otoliths; teeth
10.2	Animal	Ecofact	Antler		All unworked antler	Red deer antler
10.3	Animal	Ecofact	Horn		All unworked horn	Cow horn
10.4	Animal	Ecofact	Ivory		All unworked ivory; including mammal tusks or teeth large enough to be carved or worked into objects; including teeth or tusks from elephants, mammoths, whales, walruses	Walrus ivory
10.5	Animal	Ecofact	Arthropod remains		All unmodified parts of creatures of the class Arthropoda; does not include mollusc shell or insect remains	Crab, lobster
10.6	Animal	Ecofact	Insect remains		All remains of any part of an insect; preservation is usually, though not exclusively, through waterlogging
10.7	Animal	Ecofact	Mollusc shell	Shell	All unmodified mollusc shell; includes marine and land molluscs which will be identified more closely in specialist appraisal or analysis	Mussel, oyster, snail
11	Faecal matter	Ecofact	Coprolite		All human and animal faecal remains, to be defined more precisely during specialist appraisal or analysis	Coprolite; faecal matter (unspecified)
12	Animal	Artefact	Modified animal product		All modified or worked animal remains; modified materials such as fur or eggshell that do not fit the more specific Material Types listed here (eg Worked bone; Modified shell) should be identified as Modified animal product	Eggshell; fur
12.1	Animal	Artefact	Worked bone		All objects made from animal bone or related substances; such as combs, comb blanks, die, gaming pieces, etc	Worked antler; worked bone
12.2	Animal	Artefact	Worked antler		All objects made of antler
12.3	Animal	Artefact	Worked horn		All objects made of horn
12.4	Animal	Artefact	Worked ivory		All objects and made of ivory
12.5	Animal	Artefact	Modified shell (mollusc)		All objects made of mollusc shell	Modified oyster shell, modified scallop shell
12.6	Animal	Artefact	Modified shell (vertebrate)		All objects made of vertebrate shell	Modified tortoise shell, modified turtle shell
13	Animal	Artefact	Leather		Animal skin that has been tanned or tawed
14	Textile	Artefact	Textile remains	Textile; fibre; string	All woven and twisted animal and plant products, including cloth, fibre, rope and string; for basketry use. Worked plant remains or Worked wood	Cotton; jute; linen; rattan; silk; withy; wool
14.1		Artefact	Fibre		Individual fibres or thread-like materials made from animal or plant products intended for use in, or a by-product of, textile production
15	Plant	Ecofact	Plant remains		All unmodified plant remains including chaff, seeds; includes plant remains that cannot be specifically identified until specialist appraisal or analysis, e.g. fragments of unworked wood	Chaff; flower; leaf; phytolith; seed
15.1	Plant	Ecofact	Plant remains (charred)		All charred plant remains such as nutshell; excluding charcoal; important to note if selected for scientific dating
15.2	Plant	Ecofact	Plant remains (mineralised)		All mineralised plant remains other than wood
15.2	Plant	Ecofact	Plant remains (waterlogged)		All waterlogged plant remains other than wood
15.3	Plant	Ecofact	Wood		All unworked wood	Alder, ash, birch, hazel, lime, oak, willow, yew
15.4	Plant	Ecofact	Wood (burnt)	Charcoal	All unworked charred or carbonized wood (charcoal); note that samples identified for scientific dating will be treated differently
15.5	Plant	Ecofact	Wood (mineralised)		All mineralised wood
15.6	Plant	Ecofact	Wood (waterlogged)		All waterlogged wood
15.6	Plant	Artefact	Worked plant remains		All modified plant products; modified materials such as worked/utilised nutshell, that do not fit the Material Types specified here should be identified as Worked plant remains; use for basketry made from plant remains other than wood, eg reed	Reed basketry
15.7	Plant	Artefact	Worked wood	Worked wood; wood-working debris	All objects made of wood and bark; all wood-working debris such as woodchips; use for basketry made from wood, eg willow	Alder, ash, birch, hazel, lime, oak, willow, yew, willow basketry
16	Plant	Ecofact	Microfossil		Microscopic remains of animals or plants; such as diatoms, formanifera, ostracods, phytoliths, pollen	pollen; spores; phytoliths; diatoms
17	Sample	Ecofact	Flot		The material which floats during the flotation of samples collected for the recovery of charred plant remains
17.1	Sample	Ecofact	Residue		The material that does not float during the flotation of samples collected for the recovery of charred plant remains; also the material remaining following wet or dry sieving of coarse sieved samples