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Stratigraphy
The term “stratigraphy” is ubiquitous in archaeological discourse, but the concept is not generally as rigorously defined as one might wish. In a loose sense, it is often used to refer to a variety of concrete field situations where different elements overlay or intersect each other.
There are a number of other stratigraphies, especially geological stratigraphy, which was developed well before archaeological stratigraphy. Catuneanu 2026, for example, discusses them in detail, but, interestingly, he does not include archaeology.
At its simplest, one thinks of layers that are horizontally placed one on top of the other, and a layer cake is the most commonly used metaphor for this situation. This is the principle of superposition, which is correct especially in a chronological sense (later events affect earlier ones after these have left elements in a certain “position”).
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Archaeological stratigraphy
Given the nature of the context, archaeological stratigraphy is highly distinctive. Later events often do not just cause elements to “lay” on top of earlier ones, in a layer-like fashion. They often intrude and disturb the earlier “layers” so that their original disposition is altered.
Another important factor is that the process, unlike what happens in geology, is non repetitive. Resulting from cultural activities, the depositional process is highly unpredictable, and must therefore be observed and recorded according to distinctive concepts and procedures – according to a distinctive, archaeological grammar.
At the basis of such a grammatical approach lies a sharp distinction between emplacement and deposition. One must observe and document each element as it is found in the ground in order to infer from it how it got there in the first place. To this we will turn our attention the following pages.
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References
ChatGPT 2026-420
Couteneanu 2026
Gavin
Harris
Mardon & al. 2021 esp. p. 111f
Wikipedia: Stratigraphy; Stratigraphy_(archaeology)
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