English

Alternative forms

• type-site
• typesite

Noun

type site ‎(plural type sites)

1. (archaeology) An archaeological site considered the representative example of a particular culture, frequently its first discovery and frequently used as its eponym
   • 1935, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1 6

     The Late Bronze Age assemblage to which the type site offers no significant parallel.

   • 1959, J.G.D. Clark, Reflections on the significance of prehistoric cultural influences in South West Africa, VI 159

     Bambata is the type site for the Stillbay Culture in Rhodesia.

   • 1981, P. Salway, Roman Britain, 7

     A ‘type-site’ is, in archaeological jargon, the site after which a culture is named, often the site at which it was first discovered or recognized as distinct.

2. (geology) A geologic site considered the representative example or first discovery of a stratographic level or other feature
   • 1975, J.G. Evans, The Environment of Early Man on the British Isles, I 8

     Each interglacial is named after a type site or area where deposits of that stage occur.

See also

• Clovis
• La Tène