Essay Example on the Evolution of Archaeological Dating: Seriation Dating

The seriation dating technique was where a collection of artifacts got separated, and they were classified according to a style and frequency. It was in a bid to create a relative chronology on the artifacts and assemblages. The belief is that there is the evolvement of objects overtime based on style and function. It is possible to organize the changes and track them to form relative dating chronologies over the archaeological sites (DaSilva, 2018). It helps in getting a better understanding of the development of the objects as well as their spread.

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Archaeologists also note that there are different types of artifacts that change according to styles, such as their decoration and even shape. They also change at different rates, making them vary in terms of the chronological distinctions that they indicate. The objects were ordered according to their age as well. It was done by counting the number of pieces that each style of the artifact in their stratigraphic layers, then the data graphed (DaSilva, 2018). The segment that had many pieces of a particular style would be presented by a wide band on the graph. A narrow band showed the layer that had few pieced. The arrangement of the bands was into battleship-shaped curves where each style would get its own trajectory.

The hidden cave archaeological site made use of the seriation dating technique where the excavators found that the cave was used as temporary storage for tools, food, and other materials. Archaeologists found thousands of artifacts that showed evidence of food and dozens of coprolites that were desiccated human feces. The data showed that the people who lived in the caves ate pinion nuts, fish, and bulrush seeds. All kinds of pollen that was found in the cave indicated that the materials were used along all the seasons of the year.

The seriation technique was used to classify the frequency of those that stayed in the cave, and they were used by the American Indians who crawled into the Hidden cave and left behind well-stratified and preserved records of their presence (DaSilva, 2018). Serration also helps to gather knowledge on how many years back, the people used the cave and indicate their style. The cave provides great clues about archaic desert lifeways.

The human behavior at the site involved a thorough analysis of the objects that stayed at the cave and how they were of meaning. The floor of the cave was flooded and exposed, making natural and cultural deposits continue to accumulate inside the entrance of the cave hence virtually sealing it. The excavations went on for four decades until the archaeologists would make the cave a place for people to see.

There was darkness and dust inside the cave that created challenging conditions for working. The archaeologists deduced that there could be nobody that actually lived inside the cave. They made it clear that the rich artifact assemblage that was buried inside the cave was deliberately store away carefully for the future and not discarded as damage. It is to reveal the human behavior of analysis for the cave and everything they found. The cave provides important clues about the lifeways of desert archaic that archaeologists try to prove. Human behavior is likened to the need to present evidence and draw conclusions out of archaeological sites.

Reference

DaSilva, T., R. (2018). Archaeological dating techniques: Seriation. Archaeology. Dig it with Raven. Retrieved from https://www.digitwithraven.com/single-post/seriation