PRACTICES cif ARCHAEOLOGICAL STRATIGRAPHY Edited by Edward C. Harris, Marley R. Brown III, and Gregory J. Brown This book aims to bring together a number of examples which illustrate the development and use of the Harris Matrix in describing and interpreting archaeological sites. This matrix, the theory of which is described in the two editions of Edward Harris' previous book, Principles oj Archaeolonical Stratinraphy, made possible for the first time a diagram­ matic representation of the stratigraphic sequence of a site, no matter how complex. The Harris Matrix, by showing in one diagram all three linear dimensions, plus time, represents a quantum leap over the older methods which relied on sample sections only. Here, seventeen essays present a sample of new work demonstrating the strengths and uses of the Harris Matrix, the first published collection of papers devoted solely to stratigraphy in archaeology. The crucial relationships between the Harris method, open­ area excavation techniques, the interpretation of interfaces, and the use of single-context plans and recording sheets is clarified by reference to specific sites, ranging from medieval Europe, through Mayan civilisations to Colonial Williamsburg in the USA. This book ,viII be of great value to all those involved in excavating and recording archaeological sites and should help to ensure that the maximum amount of stratigraphic information can be gathered from future investigations. ACADEMIC PRESS ISBN 0-12-326445-6 Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers LONDON • SAN DIEGO NEW YORK • BOSTON SYDNEY • TOKYO 9 780123 264459 > Practices of archaeological stratigraphy Edited by EDWARD C. HARRIS Bermuda Maritime Museum Mangrove Bay Bermuda MARLEY R. BROWN III and GREGORY J. BROWN Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Williamsburg Virginia USA ACADEMIC PRESS Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers London San Diego New York Boston Sydney Tokyo Toronto ACADEMIC PRESS LI MITED 24-28 Oval Road London NWl 70X Ullited Stales Edilioll published by ACADEMIC PRESS I NC. San Diego, CA 92101 Copyright © 1993 by ACADEMIC PRESS LIMITED except for C hapter 9, © Journal of Field Archaeology All rights reserved No part of thjs book may be reproduced in any form, photostat, microfilm, or by a ny other means, without written permission from the publishers This book is printed on acid-free paper A catalogue record for this book is avail able from the British Library ISBN 0-12-326445-6 Typeset by P & R Typesetters Ltd, Salisbury, Wiltsbire Prjnted and bound in Great Britain at tbe University Press, Cambridge Contributors B.A.P . Alvey, 63 Glencairn Road, London SW16 5DG, UK D.1. Bibby, Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Wurttemberg, Brauneggerstrasse 60, 7750 Konstanz, Germany G.]. Brown, Department of Archaeological Research, ColoJlial Williamsburg Foundation, P.O. Box 1776, Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776, USA M .R. Brown Ill, Department of Archaeological Research, Colonial W illiamsburg Foundation, P.O. Box 1776, Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776, USA P.R. Clark, Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 92a Broad Street, Canterbury, Kent, CTI 2LU, UK M. Davies, 40 Parliament St, Sandy Bay, Hobart, Tasmania 7005, Australia I.G. Trocoli, Catalan Society for Archaeology, C / Bailen, 125, entr. la ., 08014 Barcelona, Spain R.H. Gerrard, Registrar, Collections Management, Toronto Historical Board, Marine Museum, Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario M6K 3C3, Canada N. Hammond, Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA E.C. Harris, The Bermuda Maritime Museum, P.O. Box MA 273, Mangrove Bay MA BX, Bermuda I. Herzog, Rheinisches Amr fiir Bodendenkmalpflege, Colmanstrasse 14,5300 Bonn 1, Germany Z. Kobylillski, Institute for the History of Material Culture, Polish Academy of Sciences, Swierczewskiego 105, 01-240 Warsaw, Poland D.F. Muraca, Department of Archaeological Research, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, P.O. Box 1776, Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776, USA N. Pearson, York Archaeological Trust, 1 The Pavement, York Y01 2NA, UK A. Praetzellis, Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University, 5503 Corbett Circle, Santa Rosa, CA 95403, USA D.M. Simmons, Research Department, O ld Sturbridge Village, 1 Old Sturbridge Village Road, Sturbridge, MA 01566-1198, USA C. Spence, Centre for Metropolitan History, Institute for Historical Research, University of London, 34 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9EZ, UK M.O. Stachiw, Research Department, Old Sturbridge Village, 1 Old Sturbridge Village Road, Sturbridge, MA 01566-1198, USA B.R . Stucki, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, 1810 Hinman Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201, USA ].R. Triggs, 247 Willow Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4E 3K6, Canada T. Williams, Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 92a Broad Street, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 2 LU, UK ].E. Worrell, Research Department, Old Sturbridge Village, 1 Old Sturbridge Village Road, Sturbridge, MA 01566-1198, USA Contents Foreword (Norman Hammond) Vll SECTION l. Introduction 1 1. Interfaces in archaeological stratigraphy (Marley R. Brown III and Edward C. Harris ) 7 SECTION II . Historical trends 21 2. Recording the archaeology of London: the development and implementation of the 23 DUA recording system (Craig Spence) 3. The contribution of the Harris Matrix to the development of Catalan archaeology 47 (Isabel G. Trocoli) 4. Polish medieval excavations and the Harris Matrix: applications and developments 57 (Zbigniew Kobylinski) 5. The limits of arbitrary excavation (Adrian Praetzellis) 68 SECTION Ill. Analysis in excavation 87 6. Single-coil text planlling: its role in on-site recording procedures and in post-excavation 89 analysis at York (Nicky Pearson and Tim Williams) 7. Building stratigraphic sequences 011 excavations: an example from Konstal1z, Germany 104 (David I. Bibby) 8. Three-dimensional assessment of activity areas in a shell midden: an example from the 122 Hoko River Rockshelter, State of Washington (Barbara Stucki) 9. Matrices and Maya archaeology (Norman Hammond) 139 SECTION IV. Phasing and structural analysis 153 10. Phasing stratigraphic sequences at Colonial Williamsburg (Gregory J. Brown and David 155 F. Muraca) 11. The application of the Harris Matrix to the recording of standing structures (Martin 167 Davies) 12. The total site matrix: strata and structure at the Bixby Site (David M. Simmons, Myron 181 O . Stachiw and John E. Worrell) SECTION V. Post-excavation analysis 198 13. Computer-aided Harris Matrix generation (Irmela H erzog) 201 14. Interpreting archaeology with Hindsight: the use of three dimensions in graphic 218 recording and site analysis (Bryan A.P. Alvey) 15. Beyond crossmellds: stratigraphic analysis and the content of historic artefact assemblages 229 on urban sites (Richard H. Gerrard) 16. The seriation of multilinear stratigraphic sequences (John Triggs) 250 V I Contents SECTION VI. Future developments 274 17. Sites withollt Principles: post-excavation analysis of' pre-matrix' sites (Peter R. Clark) 276 Index 293 Foreword It is an honour to be asked to write a prefatory page to Practices of Archaeological Stratigraphy, a book which shows how widely Edward Harris's matrix concept has become used . In less than two decades the Harris Matrix has gone from being an esoteric recording format of the Winchester Research Unit to a generic research tool of archaeologists across the world. The applications in this book, by scholars working on sites from shell-middens in the Pacific Northwest to medieval towns in Poland, from the Maya of the Central American rainforest to the urban complexities of York with its two millennia of packed urban deposits, show how deeply Harris's ideas have penetrated our professional conscIOusness. The idea of a stratigraphic diagram' which was procedurally rigorous, forcing the excavator to account for every defined context in spatial and chronological relation to its neighbours, and thus to think honestly about what the evidence meant throughout a project rather than only at the stage of writing up, was both new and welcome when Harris first introduced it in 1973. The standing section was still the principal means of displaying stratigraphic data and elucidating its chronological and cultural significance, although some British excavators, notably Brian Hope-Taylor at Yeavering, and Martin Biddle and Birthe Kj0lbye-Biddle at Winchester, had begun to argue for the primacy of the phase plan. The Harris Matrix was the ideal way of reconciling these two complementary, yet in some ways contradictory, methods of putting a site on to paper and making it comprehensible to others. It was value-neutral, not imposing anything on the excavator except an obligation to think clearly, denying nothing but the chance to fudge a difficult point. Its utility was not confined to ordering buried deposits, as some of the applications cited in the second edition of Harris's classic Principles of Archaeological Stl'atigraphy and some of the chapters in this book show, the matrix format is as relevant to the above-ground archaeology of standing buildings such as Sandgate Castle in England or the Bixby House in Massachusetts. In spite of the sniffy attitude taken by some geoarchaeologists, the matrix, as a simple way of enforcing ordered thinking, is just as capable of helping them to make sense of their deposits and interfaces. The discipline imposed by using the matrix has resulted in some other important developments, notably the idea of single-context planning. If each context has to be accounted for separately in the matrix, then it should be