Stratigraphy , archaeological

Deacon, H.J. and Geleijnse, VB. 1988 The stratigraphy and sedimentology of the main site sequence, Klasies River, South Africa. South African Archaeological Bulletin 43 5-14. 

Harris, E. C. (ed.) (1997), Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy, Academic Press, New York. 

O Brien, M. J. and R. L. Lyman (1999), Seriation, Stratigraphy, and Index Fossils The Backbone of Archaeological Dating, Kluwer Academic/Plenum, New York. 

These techniques are normally adequate to answer most of the questions encountered on archaeological sites however, complex stratigraphy and unusual soil conditions can present a more difficult problem. In this chapter, we explore what additional information might be provided by a more comprehensive elemental analysis. Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) was chosen because it provides concentration data for both the major elements usually obtained by conventional techniques and the trace elements used in many provenance studies. 

The soils at Yagi, then, are a series of paleosols accumulated during the Holocene. The stratigraphy of the upper sections is datable by the ash-pumice layers, Ko-a and Ko-e. Because initial material from earlier eruptions is unrecognizable, the time-scale must depend upon radiocarbon dating of the archaeological horizons. 

Archaeological and pedological stratigraphies were used to designate soil units in the field. However, conditions peculiar to volcanic soils limit the effectiveness of normal soil science laboratory tests. 

This approach may be applicable in solving questions of archaeological dating and relative stratigraphy at sites where traditional pedo-logical methods are inadequate. 

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