Week of 2-6 – 2-10-06
Culture History: Construction of Regional
chronological sequences sequences in the
absence of Writing
Constructing Time from the analysis of space and form
Stratigraphy
Seriation
Taking results of both types of analysis and
creating Time-Space Charts
STRATIGRAPHY
Definition: the interpretation of the
sequence of strata.
– Based on the stratification ( strata of
depositional units)
– Stratum: a coherent layer or depositional
unit
– Law of superposition:
Geological principle established in the 16th C.
 In an undisturbed rock and soil column, the
old remains are lower and the more recent
on top
Examples of Stratigraphy
Geological strata
Application of the Law of Superposition to
Archaeology
Required knowledge of
origin (geological processes) of natural units
Cultural materials in those natural strata
How cultural material sorted by natural layers
Example: Nels Nelson’s work in the Galisteo Basin
Archaeological SERIATION
 A wholly archaeological method that operates on styles of
artifact
 Artifact style ( culture history definition): attributes of a type of
artifact ( ceramics or projectile points or building morphology) that is
influenced by time.
To Culture historians: Such artifacts were called
‘temporal types’
Two requirements to construct a seriation
1.artifact location ( within a single site or several sites)
2.one kind of artifact ( typically you need large samples
The how of seriation
Define stylistic artifact
units
Count the number of
artifacts by location
sites
Put into a seriation
Matrix
rows = locations
columns = types
3
Types A
B
1
2
Seriation Matrix
C
How to make rows and columns into a seriation?
(Or what constitutes a successful seriation)
1.
Rearrange rows so that all columns are continuous
( There can be no breaks in the presence of a type once it appears)
2.
If working with percentages, the shape of a type curve must
be “unimodal” [BATTLESHIP SHAPE]
Examples of Successful Seriations
How does a seriation tell us time:
1. If you have successfully
ordered a series of sites or
locations in one site (and
you have some independent
way of knowing time, you
know
that urn and willow is
younger than both
cherubs and deaths
heads
When there are no calendrical dates to
help you out:
1. Use stratigraphy– in this
example, we know from
stratigraphy that site 1 is
oldest and site 5 is most
recent. We also know that
Type C is younger than both
B and A.
Time Space Chart- Germany
Time-Space Charts
Southwest Chronology
Pecos Classification
Western Pueblo (Kidder 1927)
Rio Grande Corridor
Wendorf (1954)
Pueblo V
Historic
Pueblo IV
Classic
1200
Pueblo III
Coalition
1100
Pueblo II
Time
AD
1700
1600
1500
1400
1300
1000
900
Developmental
Assumptions and Method of Time-Space Construction
 Artifacts = culture, i.e., “archaeological culture”.
 Similar assemblages of artifacts within a region
meant same time and same people. Boxes on T-S
charts = same culture
 Change occur between boxes
 How change between boxes occurred
 Diffusion of ideas, people or independent
invention
 Radical change caused by invasion or what
culture historians described as “ site unit
intrusion
 Within regions, cultures became more complex
through time
Construction of Time Space Charts
Comparison
Sites
a
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Temporal
Order
Traits
b
x
x
x
x
x
c
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
d
x
x
x
e
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
3-6-7
2 -5
1-4
STRUCTURE OF CULTURE HISTORY
 Methodologically skilled. They knew how to extract
time from space and form. And their sequences have
lasted more than 100 years
 CH was largely empirical. They built chronologies
from the ground up.
 Viewed themselves as scientists. They were doing
science
 Science has two major ways of drawing conclusions
 INDUCTION: Conclusions are greater than
premises
 DEDUCTION: Conclusions are subsumed within
premises.
 WERE CH INDUCTIVE OR DEDUCTIVE?