HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
ANT 4930 (Section 1B51)
Exercise # 1: Stylistic Seriation
September 24, 2012
Results Due in class on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Stylistic Seriation refers to the technique through which artifacts are ordered according to
similarity in style. Seriation (also called sequence dating) is based on the idea that
artifacts change over time.
Problem:
In the footsteps of Sir Flinders Petrie and James Ford, the task of placing objects in a
sequence lies before you. You have illustrations of 20 different coffin handles from the
19th century. Some of these handles are virtually identical to one another, while others
are very different. It is your job to find the stylistic links that may exist.
You may end up creating a single unbroken sequence. Alternatively, you may decide that
there are two major branches of styles that you can see paralleling one another, or
perhaps there are three or more branches. There is no “one” right answer; but there are a
great many seriations that could be much more wrong than right.
Methodology:
To seriate, you need to manipulate these objects, to get the feel for them and their
attributes. Print out the exercise, and cut out the handle illustrations like paper dolls.
Move them around on a table top, and start trying to find patterns.
Results:
To present your results, at the minimum I will want you to turn in your “paper dolls” in
their proper order, “glue-sticked” or stapled to blanks sheets of paper, or rearranged in the
Word document and printed out. If you want to do a serious job, reduce the handles
radically in size digitally, and put these diminutive handle drawings on a single page,
with lines and arrows showing the sequence.
You should note which end of the seriation you think is which; i.e., which end is earlier,
which is more recent.
In other words, I want you to show your work. If you don’t provide a single page of tiny
handle illustrations in order, I will need a page with the seriation given in order, using the
handle numbers, 1 through 20. For example, your sequence may be 2, 5, 15, 4, 7, etc.
I also want a few paragraphs or a page of text, where you explain the choices you made
in creating your seriation. What variables you used; Explain exactly why you placed
Handle 5 next to Handle 17 in the sequence you created, etc.
Handle 1
Handle 2
Handle 3
Handle 4
Handle 5
Handle 6
Handle 7
Handle 8
Handle 9
Handle 10
Handle 11
Handle 12
Handle 13
Handle 14
Handle 15
Handle 16
Handle 17
Handle 18
Handle 19
Handle 20