Stratigraphy
16 important questions on Stratigraphy
Who is one of the founders of modern stratigraphy?
What did Nicholas Steno do?
- Still applicable in archaeology today
What are the 4 major laws called that were invented by Steno?
- Law of superposition
- Principle of Original Horizontality
- Principle of Lateral Continuity
- Principle of Cross-cutting relationships
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What is the Law of Superposition?
- Strata are deposited on top of each other
- Lower strata are thus older
- Higher strata are thus newer
- Form of relative dating in archaeology
- Artifact at a lower level is older than an artifact in a higher level
What is the Principle of Orginal Horizontality?
What is the Principle of Continuity?
- Sediment is deposited laterally in all directions
- It goes to either edge unless prevented from doing so
- If seemingly similar strata are separated by geological features, they can be assumed to be originally continuous
What is the Principle of Cross-Cutting Relationships?
- Built from the Law of Superposition (so younger deposits on top, older deposits on the bottom)
- If there are cuts between those layers it (the cut) is automatically the youngest
What did Cuvier belief in?
What did Lyell belief in?
- Uniformitarianism: the earth was shaped through the same natural processes that operate today with similar intensities
- Implies more gradual processes like erosion
- I.e. Very slow with time things start to change and take shape
How is stratigraphy used in archaeology?
- Law of Superposition
- Metrical stratification
- Natural stratification
- Cultural stratification
Law of Superposition in Archaeology
- Top layers: new/recent artifacts
- Bottom layers: old artifacts
- Artifacts in the same layer: concurrent (gelijktijdig)
What is metrical stratification?
- Artificial method
- You arbitrarily measure a certain amount down
What is natural stratification?
- Look at natural deposits
- Again with the Law of superposition
What is cultural stratification?
What is an example of metrical stratification?
- You dug a trench. Then you measure for example 5 cm down and you draw a line. That goes on till the bottom of the trench
- It is artificial because the stratum will not necessarily change every 5 cm
What an example of natural stratification?
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