Chapter 5 Flashcards
What is geoarchaeology?
Geoarchaeology applies the concepts and methods of the geosciences to archaeological research to assist in determining a site’s age and its formation, including all the human and natural processes that work together to create an archaeological site.
What is the law supervision? How can it be violated?
The law of the supervision holds that (all else being equal) older geological strata tend to be buried beneath younger strata.
The law of supervision is only a organizing principle; in some instances, reverse reverse stratigraphy can occur, as for example when people excavate sediments to create a mound.
What is the difference between systemic and archaeological contexts?
The systemic context refers to artifacts as they are being used or manipulated by the people; the archaeological context refers to natural process that act on artifacts and features once they are deposited in the ground.
Artifacts leave the systemic context and enter the archaeological context though cultural depositional processes, including loss, discard, caching, and ritual interment (ενταφιασμός).
Once in the archaeological context, artifacts can continue to be moved and altered by a variety of natural site formation processes, including landslides, burrowing animals, earthworms, tree throw, and the actions of water and climate.
Why does this difference matter?
In most sites, stratigraphy results from a complex interplay between natural and cultural processes. Archaeologists must understand the differences between an artifact’s systemic and archaeological contexts in order to know how an artifact in the ground relates to the human behavior that is in their ultimate interest.
