Nature of constituents

Giorgio Buccellati – June 2010, March 2026

Constituents

Constituents are minimal systemic units, mutually exclusive within a closed system, which may be considered as a grammar. I will identify, in this chapter, the classes of constituents, and will then, in the next chapter, define the types of constituents which belong to each of the classes.

Constituents are defined in terms of their original cultural setting, as we understand it. In this, they correspond do the phonemes in a language, and are part of an -emic system.

Constituents include elements and para-elements .

Elements

Elements are the “things” that are found in the ground.

They are defined in terms of criteria that are independent of their original cultural setting. In this sense they correspond to the “phones” in a language, and are thus part of an -etic * system. For example, a loose layer of soil may be defined geologically, or a ceramic piece may be described chemically.

Para-elements

Besides constituents proper, I recognize another class of constituents which are in some ways parallel and may accordingly be called para-elements.. They refer to elements which do not exist as “things” (stratigraphically), but are presupposed on the basis of either direct or indirect evidence, e. g.,

an impression left on other elements, such as a peg's impression on a sealing or a wall's foundation trenc after the wall has been removed (direct evidence), or
a wall assumed on the basis of a building's layout (indirect evidence).

In other words, the term refers to elements which exist only inferentially, but are nevertheless assumed to be real (on the basis, precisely, of a reasonable inference) and are not just imagined. By nature, a para-element is identical to an element, and belongs in the same class. It is only in terms of their evidentiary grounding that elements and para-elements must be distinguished.

(The term “para-element” is introduced on the analogy of terms like “para-medical,” “para-normal,” or even “para(-)phrase.”)

Referents

A referent is a minimal constituent of the recording system. As such, while not an element, it refers to elements.

Referents pertain to

the physical network (a control point, a relay),
the analytical network (phases, strata, views, templates), or
the recording system (a drawing, a photograph).

Para-constituents: incidentals

An incidental is an entry in the recording system that refers to situations and events pertaining to chronicle details – e.g., -sg the strategy to be pursued on a given day), -dy (daily review of entire unit), -we (weather as observed by given unit supervisor), -sy (surveying as pertaining to given unit), etc. (see here for a full list of incidental codes).

Accordingly, an incidental is a non-systemic item of description. As such, it is properly outside the system, and thus it is not properly a constituent. It is considered alongside the constituents because it occupies an analogous rank in the conceptual structure of the system.

Labeling is charaterized by a hyphen followed by a lexical definition

Components and sub-comoponents

A component is a typological sub-unit of an element, and sub-component a quantitative sub-unit of either an element or a component (referents do not have components). There may be one or more components of either type for any given element. For example, if the element is a jar, a typological component of the jar may be a seal impression on its shoulder, and a second typological component may be a cloth impression. If there is more than one seal or cloth impressions, there will be more than one quantitative sub-unit of that particular typological component. Analogously, for a pottery lot, there will be one or more sherds (quantitative component) for any given type of ware and/or shape (typological component). This may be represented synoptically in the following chart.

element	typological component	quantitative component
jar	seal impression	1
jar	cloth impression	3
pottery lot	simple ware	35
	early Trans-Caucasian	1
	metallic ware	3

Clusters

A cluster is a grouping of elements or referents according to a given criterion. For example, a group of vessels functionally related and sitting on the same floor constitutes a cluster, called an aggregate, and so is a group of photographs related through a set of views, which is called a web.

A cluster may beconsidered as a complex element. The most important of these clusters fall under the category of aggregates.

The difference between elements and clusters is in the degree of nesting established<, or choice of parameters made, by the excavator. For instance, bricks are generally considered as components of a wall, and a wall as an component of an aggregate. Paradoxically, it may be said that a site (or the world itself!) is an aggregate, but neither susceptible of proper analysis. On the other hand, a wall is an appropriate unit of analysis if considered an element. There is no element which is so in an absolute sense; it is only a relative function of nesting choices.

Shadow constituents and specific labels

The concept

Certain elements have a special typological valence and it is useful to recognize their special status and give it a distinctive identity. We do so by assigning a specific label that spells out the nature of this “identity.” This label does not attribute the status of a proper constituent to the element, but is rather a “shadow” of an existing constituent, in the sense that it applies to a constituent that is already extablished as such and thus it lives, as it were, in its shadow.

This category applies only to elements. To indicate that specific labels are not properly independent constituents, we use, instead of a single letter (such as f or i), a circumflex followed by a lexical definition. Thus a specific label is identified by two components:

a circumflex and
a lexical definition drawn from a special lexicon.

For examples see below.
For a list of lexical definitions see below.

Structures

A single feature or an aggregate may be recognized to carry a special meaning, for instance:

a stone wall is identified as serving the function of a retaining wall with special symbolic function as a revetment wall (e.g., JP^…);
a brick structure or a jar containing human bones and objects are classified as burials (A16^bu1, A16^bu2, A16^bu3
a set of features is identified as constituting one of several massive brickfalls (e.g., J6^bf11 and J6f2).

Objects

Movable items generally have a well defined typological status from the very moment of excavation (a figurine, a cuneiform tablet), and thus do not need a specific label at the level of the excavation unit, although this not excluded (see, e.g., in A16).

On the other hand, specific labels are used fully for objects in the typological books, see, e. g., the human figurines digital book TFH.

For unit books, objects that are thought to be especially notable are listed and described in the Overviews section accessed from the left hand side, see, e.g., the description of figurines in J6, where thei retain their original label.

Overview

Following is a chart that surveys synoptically the criteria for distinguishing the main classes of constituents and the incidentals.

constituents	element	minimal stratigraphic/typological constituent of data	stationary	feature
			movable	object, specimen, sample
	para-element	an element which does not exist as such (stratigraphically), but is presupposed on the basis of	direct evidence	such as an impression left on another element, e.g. a peg on a sealing
			indirect evidence	generally an argument, e.g., a wall assumed on the basis of a building’s layout
	referent	minimal constituent of the recording system, pertaining to	physical network	e.g., control point, relay
			analytical network	e.g., drawing, photograph
shadow constituents	specific labels	regular constituents are assigned a distinctive label, belonging to separate sequences
para-constituents	incidentals	non-systemic unit of description, i.e., situations and events pertaining to chronicle details identified by appropriate specific label

Grammar

A grammar may be viewed as the closed system within which the constituents interact.

Minimality and systemics

The constituents are minimal in a relative sense. This means especially two things:

first, each typt excludes any other – in this respect, they are minimal because no constituent so defined can be subsumed under another (an element such as a wall cannot be subsumed under a referent such as a locus);
second, within each type of constituent, nesting of subtypes is possible – in this respect they are minimal without excluding the possibility of combinatorial processes (an element such as a wall may consist of components such a brick).

The notion of system underlies the classification, meaning that any constituent is to be understood in relationship to all other constituents, and not anectodatlly, in and by itself. In the next chapter we will look specifically at the single types of constituents and incidentals, i.e., the concrete embodiments that elements, referents and incidentals can take. First, however, we should describe the structure and organization of the constituents within the system, i.e., their intrinsic and and their combinatorial properties.

NOTES

*For a full discussion of the -etc ad -emic notions see the Critique of Archaeological Reason