In stalker the artefacts were more towards the centre of the zone but every location I explored around the burnt area didn't have any artefact readings. It maybe a rumor since there is no loot spawner in-game.

Artifacts are definitely ingame : I found a medusa at a capture point, south of duty's base (the one with rodents spawning in it).
These probably appears on static spawn points scattered across the map (like mutants), since I saw someone else pick another medusa at the same spot a few days later. However keep in mind that artifacts are bouncing around so they can move on their own, roll down hills and get stuck between rocks.

Thank you very much for this information. Do you remeber how many do you ger for the medusa artefact?

Yeah, I could sell it for 650 at the duty trader, which is kinda nothing when you consider that a monolith patch is worth 25000. But again it was a common artifact at duty's base, and since some of the price are trader dependent (like how you can sell mutants parts for 2x more money at duty's base compared to loner's base) you might get more per artefact if you go to Sidorovich.

Also, I didn't sold it, I double clicked on it to see if there was a way to use it or equip it, and the thing just disappeared. It might work like a radx, or a permanent buff on your character, or maybe it was just a bug, I don't know.

Well there is that area that leads closer to the centre of the zone in stalker you needed a special artefact to go there

650 for a artefact? thats not many. maybe at sidorovich for 7000 or so. But an artefact should be more as only this little money. Maybe we can talk later on teamspeak about this if you want.

Yeah, that's definitely not enough. Artefacts should be the best way of making money in my opinion, at least for loners.
But yeah sure we can talk about this on teamspeak.