Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy¶
Harris, E. C. (1979). Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy. Academic Press.
Cited by¶
3 citations across 3 artifacts.
Each citation links to the sentence it supports in the citing article.
Primes¶
- Cross Cutting Relationship
- Archaeology reads the same logic in stratigraphic excavation — a pit cut into a floor postdates the floor, a wall foundation crossing an earlier trench postdates the trench — formalised in the Harris matrix.
This sourceFormalises the Harris matrix, codifying the cross-cutting/superposition partial-order graph (a pit cut into a floor postdates the floor) and importing the geological rule into archaeology.
- Archaeology reads the same logic in stratigraphic excavation — a pit cut into a floor postdates the floor, a wall foundation crossing an earlier trench postdates the trench — formalised in the Harris matrix.
- Layered Accumulation
- Archaeological stratigraphy applies the superposition principle to human occupation sites, as systematized by Harris (1979) in Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy.
This sourceDefines the Harris Matrix as a directed acyclic graph of stratigraphic units encoding superposition and abutment relationships; the canonical formalization of layered accumulation in archaeological practice.
- Archaeological stratigraphy applies the superposition principle to human occupation sites, as systematized by Harris (1979) in Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy.
Mechanisms¶
- Relative Chronology Matrix
- It also enforces two of the archetype's disciplines — keeping unknowns explicit and separating sequence from causation — in the very structure of the template, which is why the Harris matrix became the standard way to record single-context archaeological stratigraphy.
This sourceDescribes the Harris Matrix as a method for analyzing and presenting archaeological stratigraphic sequences.
- It also enforces two of the archetype's disciplines — keeping unknowns explicit and separating sequence from causation — in the very structure of the template, which is why the Harris matrix became the standard way to record single-context archaeological stratigraphy.
Verification¶
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