In looking at the Annenberg Public Television programs, (www.learner.org) I found the following: This video workshop for high school American literature teachers introduces techniques for reading cultural, political, and religious artifacts and connecting them to the literature they teach.
I'd never seen "artifacts" used to describe literature. Is this new, weird, or what?

It almost seems as though they forgot the word "about," though I don't know what "political artifacts" would be. Otherwise, though, I haven't seen "artifacts" used that way.

I would suggest that "artifacts" is still talking about things . . . and the reading is more a figurative term. Like you would read a painting to discover it's meaning or something. I've heard it used this way. It's a way of sounding lofty and artsy. It really just means examine.