Part 1. Stratigraphic Dating: A Café Scene Relative dating methods establish the date of something as older or younger than something else rather than anchoring its age to an absolute, scaled timeline, as in absolute dating. So, we determine the sequence of at least two things (two events, two deposits, etc.) and establish what happened first, what happened next, and so on. In archaeology, relative dating relies on stratigraphy—what material is located above or below something else. The Law of Superposition tells us that material positioned underneath something else is usually older and material overlying a deposit is younger than the deposit, unless the layers have been disturbed. The photos that you will be shown depict a collection of items on a table: a cup, saucer, newspaper, and tickets. Imagine that these items are part of a single context such as a layer in an excavation and you want to determine whether they were deposited all at once as a single event or one after the other over a longer period. Examine the photos and answer the following questions. 1. Using the Law of Superposition, which material is the oldest? 2. Which is the youngest? 3. How do you know this?
Part 1. Stratigraphic Dating: A Café Scene
Relative dating methods establish the date of something as older or younger than something else rather than anchoring its age to an absolute, scaled timeline, as in absolute dating. So, we determine the sequence of at least two things (two events, two deposits, etc.) and establish what happened first, what happened next, and so on.
In archaeology, relative dating relies on stratigraphy—what material is located above or below something else. The Law of Superposition tells us that material positioned underneath something else is usually older and material overlying a deposit is younger than the deposit, unless the layers have been disturbed.
The photos that you will be shown depict a collection of items on a table: a cup, saucer, newspaper, and tickets. Imagine that these items are part of a single context such as a layer in an excavation and you want to determine whether they were deposited all at once as a single event or one after the other over a longer period. Examine the photos and answer the following questions.
1. Using the Law of Superposition, which material is the oldest?
2. Which is the youngest?
3. How do you know this?
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