Typology

The word typology literally means the study of types. Beyond this simple definition, the term has at least six distinct uses in the fields listed below:

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In archaeology a typology is the result of the classification of things according to their characteristics. It is based on a view of the world familiar from Plato's metaphysics called essentialism. Essentialism is the idea that world is divided into real, discontinuous and immutable ?kinds?. This idea is the basis for most typological constructions, particularly of stone artefacts where essential forms are often thought of as ?mental templates?, or combinations of traits that are favoured by the maker. Variation in artefact form and attributes is seen as a consequence of the imperfect realization of the template, and is usually attributed to differences in raw material properties or individuals' technical competences.

Archaeology: Archaeology or arch?ology or occasionally archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environm...

Classification: Classification may refer to:...

Plato: PLATO, an apronym for Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operation, was one of the first generalized Computer assisted instruction systems, originally built by the University of Illinois (U of I) and later taken over by Control Data (CDC), who provided the machines it ran on. PLATO ran for many...