6 - Deposits as units of stratification

Abstract

An excavator must have a theory of archaeological stratigraphy to know what to observe and record on an archaeological excavation. The interpretation of stratification is also a task that requires knowledge of stratigraphic theory. Interpretation must be learned on excavations and not from handbooks. There should not be a dividing line between practical and intellectual experience. The widespread opinion that practical experience outweighs an academic grounding is largely responsible for the lack of development of stratigraphic concepts in archaeology. The primary study, record, and interpretation of stratification need not take any account of the historical significance of the various layers and features. The principles of archaeological stratigraphy must take into account the nonhistorical attributes of stratification, because it is they which are of universal application. Many individual units of stratification, as historical features, have no universal import. It is mainly by the comparison of the cultural or artifactual sequences and not the stratification of various sites that the archaeologist studies the development of past societies.