An assemblage is an archaeological

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

 term meaning a group of different artifact

Artifact (archaeology)

An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

s found in association

Archaeological association

Association in archaeology has more than one meaning and is confusing to the layman. Archaeology has been critiqued as a soft science with a somewhat poor standardization of terms.-Finds and objects:...

 with one another, that is, in the same context

Archaeological context

In archaeology, not only the context of a discovery is a significant fact, but the formation of the context is as well. An archaeological context is an event in time which has been preserved in the archaeological record. The cutting of a pit or ditch in the past is a context, whilst the material...

. As defined by one of the standard contemporary archaeological textbooks (Renfrew and Bahn), an assemblage is a "group of artifacts

Artifact (archaeology)

An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

 recurring together at a particular time and place, and representing the sum of human activities."

Where similar assemblages are found to be consistently present within a limited time period and area, they can be said to represent a culture

Archaeological culture

An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place, which are thought to constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between the artifacts is based on archaeologists' understanding and interpretation and...

. Where the content of the assemblages relates only to one product, they are more correctly termed an industry

Archaeological industry

An archaeological industry, normally just "industry", is the name given in the study of prehistory to a consistent range of assemblages connected with a single product, such as the Langdale axe industry...

.

See also

• Dating methodology (archaeology)
  Dating methodology (archaeology)
  Dating material drawn from the archaeological record can be made by a direct study of an artifact or may be deduced by association with materials found in the context the item is drawn from or inferred by its point of discovery in the sequence relative to datable contexts...
  
  
• Seriation (archaeology)
  Seriation (archaeology)
  In archaeology, seriation is a relative dating method in which assemblages or artifacts from numerous sites, in the same culture, are placed in chronological order. Where absolute dating methods, such as carbon dating, cannot be applied, archaeologists have to use relative dating methods to date...
  
  
• Small finds
  Small finds
  Small finds is an archaeological term for artifacts discovered on excavations which are somewhat special compared with the common finds for that type site or type phase on multi phasic sites. The special nature of the find is dictated by research agendas and the information the artifact can provide...
  
  
• Artifact (archaeology)
  Artifact (archaeology)
  An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
  
  
• Excavation
• Archaeological field survey
  Archaeological field survey
  Archaeological field survey is the method by which archaeologists search for archaeological sites and collect information about the location, distribution and organization of past human cultures across a large area...
  
  
• Archaeological culture
  Archaeological culture
  An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place, which are thought to constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between the artifacts is based on archaeologists' understanding and interpretation and...