Archaeological site that defines a culture

Type site

Type site

In <a href="/en/Archaeology" title="Archaeology" class="wl">archaeology</a>, a type site is the <a href="/en/Archaeological_site" title="Archaeological site" class="wl">site</a> used to define a particular <a href="/en/Archaeological_culture" title="Archaeological culture" class="wl">archaeological culture</a> or other <a href="/en/Typology_(archaeology)" title="Typology (archaeology)" class="wl">typological unit</a>, which is often named after it.<a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;">[1]</a><a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;">[2]</a> For example, discoveries at <a href="/en/La_Tène_(archaeological_site)" title="La Tène (archaeological site)" class="wl">La Tène</a> and <a href="/en/Hallstatt" title="Hallstatt" class="wl">Hallstatt</a> led scholars to divide the <a href="/en/Iron_Age_Europe" title="Iron Age Europe" class="wl">European Iron Age</a> into the <a href="/en/La_Tène_culture" title="La Tène culture" class="wl">La Tène culture</a> and <a href="/en/Hallstatt_culture" title="Hallstatt culture" class="wl">Hallstatt culture</a>, named after their respective type sites.<a href="#cite_note-:0-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;">[3]</a>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Archaeological site that defines a culture</div>
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The concept is similar to <a href="/en/Type_locality_(geology)" title="Type locality (geology)" class="wl">type localities</a> in <a href="/en/Geology" title="Geology" class="wl">geology</a> and <a href="/en/Type_specimen" title="Type specimen" class="mw-redirect wl">type specimens</a> in <a href="/en/Biology" title="Biology" class="wl">biology</a>.

In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. The concept is similar to type localities in geology and type specimens in biology. 