Abstract
This chapter presents an approach to decipher depositional histories. A useful approach to decipher depositional histories would be to treat the record (in its entirety) as a sedimentological deposit. All components could then be described in sedimentological terms (attributes) and according to the rules established in the geological code of stratigraphic nomenclature, which would allow the archaeologist to determine the contribution of biological (cultural) agents and natural agents in archaeological deposits. A sedimentological deposit is a single sedimentation unit formed under essentially constant physical conditions with constant delivery of the same material during deposition. The material contained in the deposit is called sediment. Each individual sedimentary particle can have a unique depositional history related to its source, transport agent, environment of deposition, and postdepositional alteration. Attributes of the sedimentary particles that can be used to interpret depositional history are texture, composition, and structures. Sedimentary particles are grouped in deposits because the sources, agents of transport, and depositional environments were constant for a sufficiently long period of time to allow them to accumulate.
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