Horizon (archaeology)
Inarchaeology,the general meaning ofhorizonis a distinctive type of sediment, artefact, style, or other cultural trait that is found across a large geographical area from a limited time period.[1][2][3]The term derives from similar ones ingeology,horizonormarker horizon,but where these have natural causes, archaeological horizons are caused by humans. Most typically, there is a change in the type ofpotteryfound and in the style of less frequent major artefacts. Across a horizon, the same type of artefact or style is found very widely over a large area, and it can be assumed that these traces are approximately contemporary.
General[edit]
The term is used to denote a series of stratigraphic relationships that constitute aphaseor are part of the process of determining the archaeological phases of a site. An archaeological horizon can be understood as a break in contexts formed in theHarris matrix,which denotes a change in epoch on a given site by delineation in time of finds found withincontexts.
An example of a horizon is thedark earth horizonin England, which separates Roman artefacts from medieval artefacts and which may indicate the abandonment of urban areas in Roman Britain during the 2nd to 5th centuries. The term "archaeological horizon" is sometimes, and somewhat incorrectly, used in place of the termlayerorstrata.[citation needed]
Americas[edit]
In thearchaeology of the Americas"Horizon" terminology, used asproper names,has become used for schemes of periodization of major periods. "Horizons" are periods of cultural stability and political unity, with "Intermediate periods" covering the politically fragmented transition between them. In theperiodization of pre-Columbian Peruand the CentralAndes,there are three Horizon periods with two Intermediate periods between them. The Horizons and their dominant cultures are: Early Horizon,Chavin;Middle Horizon,TiwanakuandWari culture;Late Horizon,Inca.[4]
The same terms (Early, Middle, and Late Horizons) are sometimes used for theMesoamerican chronology,though there the five stages defined byGordon WilleyandPhilip Phillipsin 1958 remain dominant, and theFormative stage,Classic stage,andPost-Classic stagecover approximately similar periods. More commonly, lower-case horizons such as an "Olmechorizon "are referred to for the region.[5]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^Kipfer, Barbara Ann."Horizon".Archaeology Wordsmith.Archived fromthe originalon 11 January 2018.Retrieved22 April2016.
- ^Pool, p. 181.
- ^Anthony, p. 131.
- ^Daily Life in the Inca Empire,2nd Edition, Michael A. Malpass, pp. 8-9; Essential Humanities. "History of Precolonial Meso/South America." Accessed 9 May 2017.[1]
- ^Grove, David C., inLatin American Horizons: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 11th and 12th October 1986,pp. 83-111, 88 on Barbara Price's capitialized scheme, Dumbarton Oaks, 1993,ISBN0884022072,9780884022077google books
References[edit]
- Pool, Christopher A. (2007).Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-78882-3.
- David W. Anthony (2007)."How to Reconstruct a Dead Culture".The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World.Princeton University Press. pp. 131–.ISBN978-0-691-05887-0.Retrieved21 October2011.