50 Examples of Material Culture

John Spacey, updated on February 28, 2024

Material culture is any element of culture that has a physical presence. This includes things that are produced, purchased, consumed and used by a society or culture. Material culture can be contrasted with intangible elements of culture such as language, norms, social constructs and stories. Generally speaking, material culture is a very small part of culture but is of interest to fields such as archaeology as these produce enduring artifacts of cultures. For example, when everyone alive today is gone, some of our physical possessions may endure for thousands or perhaps millions of years. The following are common elements of material culture.

Appliances	Architecture
Beverages	Bicycles
Boats & Ships	Books
Chemicals	Cosmetics
Costumes	Crafts
Decorations	Factories
Fashion	Food
Footwear	Furniture
Garbage	Gardens
Housewares	Industrial Equipment
Information Technology	Infrastructure
Jewelry	Landscaping
Machines	Magazines
Medical Devices	Medicines
Money (e.g. Coins)	Musical Instruments
Ornaments	Packaging
Paper	Physical Media (e.g. LP Records)
Pollutants	Pottery
Precious Metals	Products
Satellites	Sculpture
Space Probes	Spacecraft
Sporting Goods	Toiletries
Tools	Toys
Uniforms	Vehicles
Video Games (e.g. Physical Game Cartridge)	Weapons

Overview

Material culture are the physical things that are important to a culture either because they are symbolic and meaning or because they are practical items that play a role in daily life. Material culture is primarily contrasted with non-material culture that are the intangible elements of culture such as norms, values and social status.

Summary

Material culture are the physical elements of a culture including objects, built environments and landscapes that have been transformed by a culture. This includes items that are symbolic and meaningful or that play some role in daily life. Material culture can also include negative byproducts of a culture such as garbage, pollution or destroyed ecosystems.

50 Examples of Material Culture

Overview

Summary

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