5 - The laws of archaeological stratigraphy

Abstract

This chapter explains the laws of archaeology. Archaeological stratigraphy is based upon a series of fundamental axioms or laws. All archaeological sites, to a greater or lesser degree, are stratified. Through errors in recording, individual deposits or artifacts become unstratified, as their stratigraphic contexts have been lost. By the use of arbitrary levels in unwarranted situations, the stratified nature of a site can be summarily destroyed. If an archaeological site can be excavated, then it is a stratified entity, even if there is only a single deposit on the top of bedrock. As they are composed of stratified deposits, archaeological sites are recurring phenomena, although the cultural content and the character of its soils will change with its location. All archaeological sites are, therefore, subject to the laws of archaeological stratigraphy, two of which have been most often recognized. These are the laws of superposition and strata identified by fossils. Until the past decade, no other laws of stratigraphy have appeared in archaeological texts. The application of these geological laws without revision in archaeological stratigraphy may be questioned for two reasons. On one count, these laws relate to strata that were usually solidified under water and may cover many square miles. Archaeological strata, by contrast, are unsolidified, and are of limited area and diverse composition. In the second instance, artifacts cannot be used to identify strata, in the sense implied by geological laws, if only because they have not evolved through natural selection.