Artifact collecting dates to the beginning of time

“Who found the first artifact?” asked a Wauconda Area Library STEM camper.

Things crafted by humans are artifacts, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle explained.

Artifacts incorporate three elements: they are created with purpose; they result from the combination of objects; they have a specific purpose.

The word artifact might conjure the image of a gold-and-jewel encrusted Egyptian king's death mask, a 7,000-year-old Chinese scroll inscribed cataloging inventory, or even an original Honus Wagner baseball card. Artifacts are not always objects — they can include music compositions and even religious belief systems. Artifacts help to define civilizations. Artifacts are in many places, including museums, libraries, religious institutions, universities, royal treasuries or in private collections.

Almost anything is an artifact. Take shoes, for example. The oldest shoe, dating back more than 9,000 years, was crafted from twine made of sagebrush bark. A pile of these shoes was discovered in an Oregon cave. No one knows who collected the shoes, and the shoemaker might not have considered them to be artifacts. As artifacts they are on display at the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History.

A more widely recognized shoe artifact is a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland when she portrayed Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” The shoes are exhibited at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

We don't know who found the first artifact, but we do know that artifact collecting has been a phenomena since the very beginning of time. Ancient people collected artifacts from previous generations.

“There is evidence that people in Mesoamerica collected artifacts from past peoples,” said Rachel Horowitz, visiting assistant professor of archaeology at Tulane University. “The Aztec, who lived in central Mexico at the time of European contact, collected objects from sites they viewed as important — including Teotihuacan and Tula — and brought them back to Tenochtitlan, their capitol, often leaving behind other offerings in place of the materials removed.”

It's likely there are artifacts in your house. Cherished keepsakes are artifacts, collected and conveyed to future generations, Horowitz said.

“We sometimes find what we call heirlooms, or materials that people hold on to for long periods of time — this might be the equivalent of keeping your grandmother's china bowl or something similar in today's society,” she said.

Private collections of artifacts are not available for everyone to see except on rare occasions.

In Seville, Spain, the Countess Lebrija opened the doors to her city villa where beautiful ancient Roman mosaics were installed throughout the main rooms. Guests enjoy her collection of ancient Roman, Chinese and Persian artifacts.

In Hawaii, tobacco heiress Doris Duke decorated her house with stunning Islamic artifacts, including tiles, furnishings, textiles and carpets, collected on Duke's travels to the Middle East more than a century ago. Visitors tour the house and see Duke's collection of rare artifacts when they purchase tickets at the Honolulu Museum of Art.