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In archaeology a 'type site' (also known as a 'type-site' or 'typesite') is a site that is considered the model of a particular archaeological culture. For example, the type site of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A culture is Jericho, in the West Bank, while the type site of the pre-celtic/Celtic Bronze Age Hallstatt culture is the lakeside village of Hallstatt, Austria.
A type site contains artifacts, in an assemblage, that are typical of that culture. Type sites are often the first or foundational site discovered about the culture they represent. The use of this term is therefore similar to that of the ''specimen type'' in biology (see biological types) or ''locus typicus'' (type locality) in geology.

Contents

Notable type sites

Europe

Mesoamerica

North America

Oceania

Southern Asia

East Asia

Notable type sites

Europe

★ a river terrace of the River Somme (Abbeville, France), of the Abbevillian culture

★ Aurignac (Haute Garonne, France), of the Aurignacian culture

★ Hallstatt (Salzkammergut, Austria), of the Hallstatt culture

★ La Madelaine (Dordogne, France), of the Magdalenian culture

★ Le Moustier (Dordogne, France), of the Mousterian culture

★ St.Acheul (near Amiens, France), of the Acheulean culture

Mesoamerica

★ Uaxactun (Maya civilization, Dept.of Peten, Guatemala)

★ Dzibilchaltun (Maya civilization, northern Yucatan, Mexico)

★ Monte Alban (Zapotec civilization, Oaxaca,Mexico)

North America

★ Folsom, New Mexico (Folsom Tradition), United States

★ Clovis, New Mexico (Clovis culture), United States - generally accepted as the type site for the earliest human culture in the New World

★ La Plata County, Colorado (Basketmaker II period of the Anasazi culture), United States

Oceania

★ New Caledonia, of the Lapita culture.

Southern Asia

★ Kot Diji (pre-Harappanian civilization, Pakistan)

★ Harappa (Indus civilization, Punjab, northeast Pakistan)

East Asia

★ Banpo (Yangshao culture, Neolithic Yangshao culture, China)

★ Songguk-ri (Middle Mumun culture, southern Korea)