{{short description|Archaeological site that defines a culture}} {{about|an archaeological type site|a geological type site|type locality (geology)}}
In archaeology, a '''type site''' (American English) or '''type-site''' (British English) is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199534043.001.0001/acref-9780199534043-e-4397|title=type-site|encyclopedia=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology|last=Darvill|first=Timothy|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780191727139|location=Oxford|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199534043.001.0001|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=type site|encyclopedia=Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology|page=580|last=Kipfer|first=Barbara Ann|publisher=Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers|year=2000|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-306-46158-3}}</ref> For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron Age into the La Tène culture and Hallstatt culture, named after their respective type sites.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Kaeser|first=Marc-Antoine|url=https://www.academia.edu/39018189|title=La Tène, ou la construction d'un site éponyme|publisher=Drémil-Lafage: Editions Mergoil|year=2019|isbn=9782355180927|language=fr}}</ref>
The concept is similar to type localities in geology and type specimens in biology.
==Notable type sites==
=== Africa ===
* Nok (Kaduna, Nigeria), of the Nok culture
===East Asia=== *Banpo (Yangshao culture, Neolithic Yangshao culture, China) *Liangzhu Town, near Hangzhou (Liangzhu culture, Neolithic, China) *Songguk-ri (Middle Mumun culture, southern Korea) *Suemura cluster of kilns – Kilns of Sue pottery (Middle and Late Kofun period, Osaka, Japan) *Sanage cluster of kilns — Kilns of {{ill|Green Glazed Ware|ja|緑釉陶器}} and {{ill|Ash Glazed Ware|ja|灰釉陶器}} (Nara and Heian period, Aichi Prefecture, Japan)
===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 Tène, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, of the La Tène culture *Vinča, Belgrade, Serbia, of the Vinča culture *Abri de la Madeleine (Dordogne, France), of the Magdalenian culture *Le Moustier (Dordogne, France), of the Mousterian culture *Saint Acheul (near Amiens, France), of the Acheulean culture *Butmir (near Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina), of the Butmir culture *Cucuteni (Romania) and Trypillia (Ukraine), of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture
===Mesoamerica=== *Uaxactun (Maya civilization, Dept.of Peten, Guatemala) *Dzibilchaltun (Maya civilization, northern Yucatan, Mexico) *Monte Albán (Zapotec civilization, Oaxaca, Mexico)
===Near East=== *Tell Halaf, Syria, for the Halaf culture *Tell Hassuna, Iraq, for the Hassuna culture *Jemdet Nasr, Iraq, for the Jemdet Nasr period *Tell al-'Ubaid, Iraq, for the Ubaid period *Uruk, Iraq, for the Uruk period
===Northern America=== *Folsom, New Mexico (Folsom Tradition), United States *Clovis, New Mexico (Clovis culture), United States: generally accepted as the type site for one of the earliest human cultures in the North America *La Plata County, Colorado (Basketmaker II period of the Anasazi culture), United States *Barton Gulch of the Blackwater Draw Paleo-Indian culture *Adena Mound (Adena culture), United States *Borax Lake Site, for two of the earliest cultural traditions in California: the Post Pattern and Borax Lake Pattern.
===Oceania=== *New Caledonia, of the Lapita culture.
===South Asia=== *Kot Diji (Pre-Indus civilization, Pakistan) *Harappa (Indus civilization, Punjab, northeast Pakistan)
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Archaeological type sites Category:Methods in archaeology Category:Bronze Age Category:Iron Age Category:Stone Age