Unprovenienced
adj
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Not having provenience: not having complete and fully ascertained information about origin, not even knowledge of the site in which an artifact was first found by archaeology (let alone any other aspect of its history). especially, not-comparable
"Near-synonym: unprovenanced"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"There are many problems associated with artifacts and objects that lack a secure archaeological context. As Biblical Archaeology Review readers know, we typically describe such objects as “unprovenanced” (or, more accurately, unprovenienced). Since they were not found through controlled scientific excavation and often enter collections through the antiquities market, unprovenanced objects present serious practical, ethical, and even legal issues that scholars must consider when discussing them."
Etymology
From un- + provenience + -ed.
More for "unprovenienced"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.