Disentangling the matrix

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Archaeology at the core

These two images illustrate the complexity of the process which we call "disentangling."      The image to the right shows the vastity of the data embedded in the soil, with a succession of strata some 20 meters in height, corresponding to a time period of some 10 centuries.      The image below highlights the contrast between the overall scope of the excavation and the fragmented nature of the elements found in the matrix.

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The grammatical approach

Epistemics gives us the tools for translating the complex physical record into a “known” referential record.

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Process: disentangling

Excavation is the process through which we “disentangle”¹ the matrix.

One approach is to extract what are perceived to be important elements within the matrix, without regard for the context. This is a non-archaeological excavation.

A properly archaeological excavation aims to understand and document the way in which every element lays in the ground and then infer from their emplacement how they had come to be where they are, and what their original function was.

Along with re-structuring, this is the one epistemic process that is exclusively found in archaeology. Stratigraphic analysis of cultural deposits is a method that is proper to no other discipline.

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Data: the matrix, an amorphous mass

When approaching a set of cultural remains that have been abandoned and have collapsed over time, we face an amorphous matrix, a congeries of loose material and discrete fragments that came to rest there as the result of multiple cultural and natural forces, and often over very long periods of time.      The images show this amorphous mass as visible in the cut resulting from the excavation.      The image below shows a compact soil matrix with individual stones and bricks, and with the impression of other elements that have bee removed.      The image to the right shows a longer sequence, with even layers in the lower part, indicating the presence of more regular accumulations. A15v27

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A Mesopotamian site like Urkesh is a prime example of this: the collapse process took place over many centuries, and it was a dynamic process which went well beyond simple superposition and resulted from a variety of accretions, intrusions and re-uses. The Arabic word tell, as in “tell Mozan,” and the Kurdish word gir as in “girê Moza,” refer precisely to a hill that is made up of cultural remains.

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Method: stratigraphic analysis

A fundamental aspect of stratigraphic analysis is the attention that muct be paid nont only to the elements in themselves, but to the type on contact that they have in the ground, because this is what what leads us to infer from their correlation in space their correlation in time.

The book on stratigraphy edited by Catuneanu (2026), while not dealing with archaeology, offers many insights into the importance of correlation in stratigraphic analysis. The authors stress the significance of bounding structures, especially unconformities and discontinuities, in providing evidence for the sequential correlation among the elements.

In the archaeological record, this corresponds to the identification of both the elements and the types of contact they exhibit, which is at the core of stratigraphic analysis.

¹^  The term “entanglement” has recently come to have a specific meaning in archaeology (Jones 2021; Buccellati 2022 Entanglment): it refers to the relationship between humans and things. The meaning that applies here is different. It refers to how things are entangled in the soil as a result of a depositional process that was, to a large extent, not intentional.