Key:site_type

site_type
Description
A typological system for archaeological sites
Group: Historic
Used on these elements
Requires
historic=archaeological_site
Useful combination
name=*
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Status: in use
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Describes the sub-class of an archaeological site. More information at historic=archaeological_site.

Tagging

Main tag is historic=archaeological_site accompanied with one of the following tags:

Site type

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Other undocumented (suggested) values

Tag	Alternative Tagging	Description/link/Picture
abbey		Abbey
agora
agricultural	farm
amphitheatre
asclepeion		Asclepeion Greek healing temple, (named after Asclepius, the first doctor-demigod in Greek mythology.
barrow	tumulus	barrow
baths
boom_gate
bridge
broch		Broch. Iron Age drystone hollow-walled round house structure found in Scotland.
building		Some kind of, generally isolated, single former building such as dwelling or barn. For a group of huts or buildings, consider settlement
burial
bushman_paintings	painting with historic:civilization=*
cairn
camp		Often used on old UK maps to describe a roman army marching camp. These are usually marked by a low rectangular earth embankment and were often for temporary or semi-temporary use during army fighting campaigns. Care should be used in the UK as these are often mis-identified and re-classified by later archeaologists.
cave
celtic_oppidum	oppidum with historic:civilization=celtic	Oppidum. A large fortified Iron Age settlement, usually Celtic, found across Europe.
cemetery	grave_field	See grave_field
charcoal_kiln		A permanent structure made of materials such as stone for the controlled burning of wood to produce charcoal.
church
cuniculum_system
dendroglyph		carving in the bark of a living tree
deserted_medieval_village	village with historic:civilization=*
ditch
dolmen	megalith with megalith_type=dolmen	Dolmen
dun
earthwork
earthworks	earthwork
enclosure
farm	agricultural
forum
grave_field	cemetery	A group of one or more human burials. For single burials, consider burial, tumulus, stone_ship, etc.
henge		Henge, a Neolithic earthwork structure occuring mostly or exclusively in the UK consisting of a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank.
hill_fort	historic=castle with castle_type=*
holly_well	well
industrial		A site of industrial archeaological interest such as an old mill or factory.
landwehr
long_barrow	barrow with some subttype, rather use megalith with megalith_type=long_barrow	Long barrow, not only stone but wood too.
lime_kiln		Lime kiln. Oven structure for creating lime, CaO, usually from limestone rock but sometimes plant material such as bracken.
medieval_castle	historic=castle with castle_type=* with historic:civilization=*
menhir	megalith with megalith_type=menhir
midden		Midden. A heap made from domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, sherds, lithics
military_trench		A trench used for military purposes (shooting)
mine
mineral_extraction		Mineral, rock, stone, gravel, peat extraction by surface quarrying or the surface expression of underground mining such as mine shafts/levels, spoil heaps, buildings
monastery		Site of a religious settlement where monks or nuns live(d). Also referred to in English as abbey, nunnery, priory.
monolith	megalith with megalith_type=*, or man_made=obelisk, or historic=monument with other tags
murus_system
oppidum		Oppidum. A large fortified Iron Age settlement, usually Celtic, found across Europe.
oracle
painting	If on rock rock_painting
parking
prehistoric_fort	historic=castle with castle_type=* with historic:civilization=prehistoric	Stone age, bronze age, iron age fortification.
pictogram	rock_painting, petroglyph , painting	Both carved and painted symbols.
priory	monastery
quarry
ridge_and_furrow	lynchets	Ridge and furrow or Lynchet
ring_fort	historic=castle with castle_type=*
ringfort	ring_fort
road
rock_art	possible confusion with pictogram, petroglyph	Maybe defined as a carved rock surface that is also painted. This would separated it from petroglyph and rock_painting
rock_painting	painting, possible confusion with petroglyph	A Painting on a rock surface,usually sheltered from the weather.
roman_dam	site_type=roman_dam with waterway=dam, historic:civilization=ancient_roman/western_roman
roman_fish_salting_factory	site_type=roman_fish_salting_factory with historic:civilization=ancient_roman/western_roman
roman_fort	historic=castle+castle_type=castrum with historic:civilization=ancient_roman/western_roman
roman_kiln	site_type=roman_kiln with man_made=kiln, historic:civilization=ancient_roman/western_roman
roman_road - see also (also undocumented)	road with historic:civilization=ancient_roman/western_roman
roman_wall	wall with historic:civilization=ancient_roman/western_roman
roman_waterpipeline	historic=acqueduct with historic:civilization=ancient_roman/western_roman
round_barrow	barrow with some subttype	Round barrow, burial covered by a circular mound of earth. Usually Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age but earlier and later examples exist. Common in UK and Scandanavia. If the mound is elongated along one axis, then it is a Long Barrow.
ruins	Consider historic=ruins with site_type more descriptive of the function of the site.
sacrificial_site - note: "_site" is superfluous
sanctuary
shell_midden	midden
standing_stone	megalith with megalith_type=menhir
stone_circle	megalith with megalith_type=stone_circle	A circle of standing stones from large (Stonehenge in UK) to 1m high stones around a diameter of a few meters.
stone_row	megalith with megalith_type=alignment
stone_ship	megalith with megalith_type=stone_ship	Stone ship, a distinctive form of burial mostly found in Scandanavia, the Baltics and Northern Germany. The grave was surrounded by slabs or stones in the shape of a ship.
tar_pile
temple
theatre
village	settlement
villa	roman_villa
villa_rustica	roman_villa or villa
tomb -	historic=tomb with tomb=*
trap_pit		A pit dug for trapping animals, such as wolves. Common in Sweden as listed historical sites, "varg grop".
wall
well

See https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/?key=site_type#values for more values in use.

Non conforming values or evident aliases or typos

• bigstone - rather use megalith instead
• sacrificial_site -"_site" is superfluous use sacrificial
• cemetary - rather use (also undocumented) cemetery above
• civilization - rather use another value for the site type + historic:civilization=*
• heritage - rather use another value for the site type + heritage=*
• medieval_castle - Medieval castle - see and rather use historic=castle+castle_type=defensive+historic:civilization=* instead.
• petroglyphs - rather use petroglyph instead
• pictograph - probably the same as (also undocumented) pictogram above
• setlement - use settlement instead
• Stone_Cross - rather use (also undocumented) cross above without the capital + material=stone
• trapping_pit - probably the same as (also undocumented) trap_pit above
• tumuli - rather use tumulus instead

Capitals - should use lower case

OSM values should all be lower case.

• Bushman_Paintings to bushman_paintings
• Well to well
• Petroglyph to petroglyph
• Cross to cross

See also

• historic:civilization=*
• historic=aqueduct
• historic=tomb + tomb=*
• man_made=obelisk
• start_date=*, end_date=*
• heritage=*
• wikipedia=*

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