thing vs artifact

thing and artifact both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
thing	Yes	No	No	No
artifact	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, artifact is a hypernym of thing; that is, artifact is a word with a broader meaning than thing:

Other hypernyms of thing include artefact.

thing (noun)	artifact (noun)
a separate and self-contained entity	a man-made object taken as a whole
an action
an artifact
an entity that is not named specifically
any attribute or quality considered as having its own existence
a special abstraction
a special objective
a vaguely specified concern
a statement regarded as an object
an event
a persistent illogical feeling of desire or aversion
a special situation