Timing is Everything – A brief Course in Archaeological Dating

Stratigraphy as well as the statutory law of Superposition

Stratigraphy may be the earliest associated with the general relationship practices that archaeologists utilize up to now things. Stratigraphy is dependant on what the law states of superposition–like a layer dessert, the cheapest levels must first have been formed.

Put another way, items based in the top levels of a website will have already been deposited now compared to those based in the reduced levels. Cross-dating of sites, comparing geologic strata at one web web site with another location and extrapolating the relative many years for the reason that way, continues to be a significant relationship strategy utilized today, mainly whenever sites are much too old for absolute times to possess meaning that is much.

The scholar many linked to the guidelines of stratigraphy (or legislation of superposition) is just about the geologist Charles Lyell. The foundation for stratigraphy appears quite intuitive today, but its applications were at least earth-shattering to archaeological concept. For instance, JJA Worsaae used this legislation to show the 3 Age System.

Seriation

Seriation, having said that, ended up being a swing of genius. First utilized, and likely created by archaeologist Sir William Flinders-Petrie in 1899, seriation (or sequence relationship) is dependant on the concept that artifacts change in the long run. Like end fins on a Cadillac, artifact designs and traits change in the long run, getting into fashion, then fading in appeal. Continue reading →