Basics of archaeological stratigraphy
Stašo Forenbaher
Institute of Anthropological Research, Zagreb
This 30-minutes presentation provides a crash course on archaeological stratigraphy. It does not discuss composition of deposits, or how specific deposits are formed, or how they should be interpreted, but focuses entirely on establishing the order in which the deposits were laid down. Its aim is to answer two questions: (1) How does one establish the order of deposition (stratigraphic sequence) at a stratified archaeological site? (2) How can one illustrate that stratigraphic sequence by a simple diagram? The presentation introduces and briefly discusses the basic priciples of archaeological stratigraphy (following E. Harris), and illustrates those principles by an example of a simple, hypothetical stratified site. Stratigraphic relationships between units of stratification are analyzed, stratigraphic diagram of the site is constructed step-by-step, and finally the stratified site is divided into phases. Presentation is augmented and by animated graphics.