When artifacts, which can be argued to represent bundles of social relationships, are turned into objects which appear separate and simple, they are commodified. A commodified artifact is one which is abstracted from the contexts and relationships which make it what it is. Full understanding is thereby prevented. To treat artifacts only as commodities is a basic feature of capitalist ideology. Some archaeological approaches and some cultural appropriations of archaeological artifacts (for example museum exhibitions) have been criticised for commodifying the past.