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Giorgio Buccellati, Critique of Archaeological Reason
Excerpts
Edward Harris
by Esmeralda Agolli
Excerpts from 1975 "The Stratigraphic Sequence: A Question of Time"
Stratigraphy:
| is the descriptive study of archaeological strata (the smallest recognized division of a site, physical or otherwise, generically referred to as 'layers'), their occurrence, soil or filling content, artefact content, succession, and classification with a view to arranging them in a chronological sequence. Stratigraphy is not a principle but rather an area of study.
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Stratification:
| is any number of relatable deposits of archaeological strata which are the result of 'successive operations either of nature or mankind (Wheeler in Rapport and Wright 1963: 47).
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The Principle of Stratigraphy:
| the principle of stratigraphy is that an object left on or in the soil at any given time will be found at a lower level than one deposited later.
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Stratigraphic Sequence
| The redefinition of 'stratification' necessitates the use of the stratigraphic sequence which is a name for the relative chronology of a site as deduced from its stratification. Constructed by the rearrangement of stratification it is a statement in four dimensions, the fourth being Time which has an 'event' as its smallest element.
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Excerpts from 1979 "The Laws of Archaeological Stratigraphy"
The Law of Superposition:
| in a series of layers and interfacial features, as originally created, the upper units of stratification are younger and the lower are older, for each must have been deposited on, or created by the removal of, a pre-existing mass of archaeological stratification.
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The Law of Original Horizontality:
| any archaeological layer deposited in an unconsolidated form will tend towards a horizontal disposition. Strata which are found with tilted surfaces were so originally deposited, or lie in conformity with the contours of a pre-existing basin of deposition.
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The Law of Original Continuity:
| any archaeological deposit, as originally laid down, will be bounded by a basin of deposition, or will thin down to a feather-edge. Therefore, if any edge of the deposit is exposed in a vertical plane view, a part of its original extent must have been removed by excavation or erosion: its continuity must be sought, or its absence explained.
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The Law of Stratigraphic Succession:
| any given unit of archaeological stratification takes its place in the stratigraphic sequence of a site from its position between the undermost of the units which lie above it and the uppermost of all those units which lie below it in which it has a physical contact, all other superpositional relationships being regarded as redundant.
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