FIELD TECH LEC 5

STRARIGRAPHY: PRINCIPLES AND RECORDING

- Natural processes (additive)

o Wind-borne sands
o Alluvial (deposited by rivers) and colluvial (deposited by gravity) deposits
o Humus (organic material decay) development
o Volcanic ash falls

- Natural processes (subtractive):

o Water erosion (run-off, flooding, etc.)
o Wind erosion
o Hillslope slumping

- Cultural processes (additive):

o Trash deposition
o Construction of walls, earthen banks, etc.
o Soil “manufacture”
 Agricultural systems, etc.

- Cultural processes (subtractive):

o Demolition of buildings
o Extraction of resources
o Construction of ditches, pits, postholes, etc.

- Important terms:
o Features/layers/deposits
o Interfacial features
 i.e. a ‘hole’ cut through other layers, or which lies below/contains other
layers
o basins of deposition
 formed by walls, features such as ditches, stream gully, etc.
 all of which alter conditions of deposition or unconsolidated soils
o spits
 arbitrary excavation unit
o lots
 contextual label
- laws!
1. Superposition
2. Original horizontality
a. Strata (when forming) tend to the horizontal
 b. Strata with tilted surfaces were originally deposited that way or lie in
conformity with exsisting basins of deposition
3. Original continuity
a. Any deposit as originally laid down, or any feature as originally
created, will be bound by a basin of deposition
b. If any part is exposed in vertical view, a part has been removed by
excavation or erosion and its continuity must be sought or its absence
explained
4. Stratigraphic succession
a. A unit a stratigraphy takes its place in the sequence from its position
between the earliest and latest of all the units or features which lie
above or below it
i. Must be in physical contact with said units
ii. All other superpositional relationships are redundant

- Recording stratigraphy!
o 2D and 3D recording
 Extent of deposit horizontally
 Extent of deposit vertically
o Nature of the deposit and its relationships
 Volume and/or weight of deposit
 Character of deposit
 Composition
 Color and texture
 Particle size
 Acidity
 Relationships of a deposit to other deposits – Harris matrices (mapping
the layers)
 Materials contained within the deposit – artefacts, ecofacts, etc.
o Methods of investigating the deposit:
 Sampling strategies (sieving, floatation, bulk samples
 Method of removal
 Dating of deposit
 Relative chronology
 Absolute chronology (c14 samples)

- Excavation sections:
o Mapping of vertical relationships of deposits
o Vertical extent of deposit recorded in situ as one or more standing sections along
pre-determined lines
o Vertical extent of deposit recorded as one or more ‘running’ sections’ along pre-
determined lines as excavation proceeds
 o Sections may also be ‘reconstructed’ using spot height values recorded on
excavation plans

- Recording sections:
o Once the excavation is complete, you have 4 ‘sections’
o To draw these:
 Establish a horizontal string line and measure length
 Identify feature junctions and measuring points
 Measure feature junctions by dropping perpendicular measurements
from string line

- harris matrix (3 basic relationships)

1. 1 overlies 2 (1 is the top layer)

2. 1 & 2 are identical in date (they were deposited at the same time
a. Option two occurs when they are on the same plane but not
necessarily deposited at the same tome
3. There is no relationship between 1 & 2