Type site - Definition and Overview

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.

A type site contains artefacts, 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).

Some notable type sites are:

• a river terrace of the River Somme (Abbeville, France), of the Abbevillian culture
• Aurignac (Haute Garonne, France), of the Aurignacian culture
• La Madelaine (Dordogne, France), of the Magdalenian culture
• Le Moustier (Dordogne, France), of the Mousterian culture