[jonbxx]

Originally Posted by Chris

It's impossible to discuss this meaningfully without a working definition of 'culture' we can agree on. As you have started off the thread by completely missing the point of my earlier post, we're not off to a good start.

Let's start by clearing that up:

Do you understand what a 'cultural artefact' is, and why a cultural artefact may or may not also be part of your heritage?
What is your working definition of 'culture'?

Full disclosure:
My first degree is in archaeology. Discussion of material culture and the interpretation of it, in pursuit of vanished cultures, a speciality.
My second degree (will be) in practical theology, unless I mess up the dissertation I'm meant to be writing this afternoon, which, coincidentally, is on the subject of how long-term exposure to visual storytelling (film and TV, with my specific examples drawn from Hollywood) affects the way spoken sermons are received by church congregations. My dissertation is being marked by a specialist in cultural theology, because that's the area I'm working in. The Hollywood summer blockbuster is both a builder of, and a mirror for, culture. As is Anfield on a Saturday afternoon.

Which is a very long-winded way of saying that I have spent a ridiculously large amount of my life contemplating what culture is, and how we relate to it, but also that I don't sadly have much time this evening to contribute here.

Ah well, physical artefacts are a different thing. I would say that our culture in that respect is more defined by how we interact or relate to physical artefacts or symbols than the actual artefacts themselves