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Archaeological Stratigraphy

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Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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Introduction

Archaeologists have utilized stratigraphy in order to correlate sediment layers and archaeological assemblages for well over a century (Harris 1989; Lyman and O’Brien 1999; O’Brien and Lyman 1999; Stein 2000; Mills and Vega-Centeno 2005). Relative-age determination based on the law of superposition and context is now used in essentially all archaeological excavations, and it is the foundation of almost every other dating technique as well as being more frequently applied than any other method. A site may contain hundreds of superimposed sediment layers, or built structures such as plazas, foundation walls, and streets, but in every case, stratigraphy is needed to interpret the age relationships of the artifacts and architecture. Stratigraphy is also crucial in reconstructing the landscape of occupation and past environments and in understanding site formation processes(see entry on Site Formation Processes in this volume). There have been few attempts to establish a...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Julie K. Stein

  2. Departments of Anthropology and Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Vance T. Holliday

Authors
  1. Julie K. Stein
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  2. Vance T. Holliday
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vance T. Holliday .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Sociology & Anthropology, Fordham University, Bronx, NY, USA

    Allan S. Gilbert

  2. University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia

    Paul Goldberg

  3. University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Rolfe D. Mandel

  4. University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    Vera Aldeias

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Stein, J.K., Holliday, V.T. (2022). Archaeological Stratigraphy. In: Gilbert, A.S., Goldberg, P., Mandel, R.D., Aldeias, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44600-0_3-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44600-0_3-1

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