Chairs: David BIBBY / Irmela HERZOG / Michael DONEUS, Germany
Stratigraphy has a long tradition in archaeology, and since the publication of Edward C. Harris’ seminal volume “Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy” in 1979, stratigraphic excavations have become standard in many places in the world. Over the last 25 years computer programmers have concerned themselves with tools for reconstructing the chronological sequence of stratigraphic units. As early as 1989 first approaches to 3D recording of stratigraphic units were published. In the last decade the increasing use of modern surveying methods on excavation and especially the possibilities offered by laser scanning of real 3D excavation recording have rekindled interest in stratigraphic theory per se. GIS and its emphasis on surfaces has also entered into the oeuvre of stratigraphic thought. For stratigraphic recording, these new methods might be seen as alternatives to the Harris Matrix with its array of boxes and lines, often disconcerting to the archaeologist and unintelligible to the public. But is this the case? Might not the “new technologies” and the “old Harris Matrix” complement each other? One aim of the workshop is to examine both the possibilities and limits of 3D recording with respect to stratigraphic analysis. Much uncertainty is inherent in stratigraphy. Most sites are made up of any number of partially independent stratigraphic series, for which many permutations are possible. These so called multilinear stratigraphic sequences, best visualised with the Harris Matrix, allow different chronological interpretations of a site. For this reason, another focus of the workshop is on methods dealing with the ambiguity of multilinear stratigraphic sequences. Archaeologists also have to face uncertainty when defining stratigraphic units and their relationships, and some call for the development of fuzzy stratigraphic theory. Yet another aspect of uncertainty in stratigraphic analysis becomes apparent when trying to reconstruct the chronological sequence of layers of an old excavation, documented with several disjoint profiles.