Jul 10, 2026, 9:40 AMI am rather partial to the traditional use of the term "artefact".
For example, ceramic artefacts are very durable:
they can last for thousands of years.
Occasionally and with luck, one finds a six-thousand-year-old (say) pot that is almost as good as new.
Ceramics is the oldest artificial material, and still going strong.
Note that it is silicon-based.
P.S.
For examples of ceramic text storage media, see Mesopotamian clay tablets from about the Third Millennium and later.
See also the Tartaria tablets and the Gradeshnitsa tablet for older examples of proto-writing.
