In archaeology, not only the context (physical location) of a discovery is a significant fact, but the formation of the context is as well. Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos An archaeological context is an event in time which has been preserved in the archaeological record. The archaeological record is a term used in Archaeology to denote all archaeological evidence, including the physical remains of past human activities which Archaeologists The cutting of a pit or ditch in the past is a context, whilst the material filling it will be another. In Archaeology and archeological stratification a cut or truncation is a context that represents a moment in time when other archaeological deposits Multiple fills, seen as layers in archaeological section would mean multiple contexts. In Archaeology fills are contexts representing material that has accumulated or has been deposited into a cut feature such as ditch or pit of Structural features, natural deposits and inhumations are also contexts. Feature in archaeology and especially Excavation has several different but allied meanings Burial, also called interment and inhumation, is the act of placing a person or object into the ground By separating a site into these basic, discrete units, archaeologists are able to create a chronology for activity on a site and describe and interpret it. Artifacts in the main are not treated as contexts but belonging of them. Contexts are sometimes referred to as either positive or negative depending on whether their formation added or removed material from the archaeological record. The archaeological record is a term used in Archaeology to denote all archaeological evidence, including the physical remains of past human activities which Archaeologists Negative contexts are cuts. In Archaeology and archeological stratification a cut or truncation is a context that represents a moment in time when other archaeological deposits it can not be stressed too strongly how fundamentally important the concept of context is in modern archaeological practice

Contents 1 Suitability of single context planning 2 Context types 3 See also 4 References

Suitability of single context planning

The use of context as discrete units does not necessitate single context recording methodologies but it does facilitate its use and popularity. Single context recording was developed in the 1970's by the Museum of London amongst others (notably at Winchester and York where the system was first used and has become Single context recording is a system of recording and planning which treats each context on par in the process of excavation. the system of planning creates a superimposable stack of semi transparent plans that can be stacked in stratigraphic order to reconstruct the site as it was excavated.

Context types

Contexts are often recorded by type. There is no standardization but the following are common types:

1. Deposit: Any soil deposit be it a; layer, dump or fill ,surfaces such as gravel roads are deposits
2. Cut: Any feature defined by action of removal of other contexts be it pit, ditch or truncation
3. Skeleton: Any human skeleton remains
4. Coffin: coffin of any description not masonry in nature
5. Masonry: Any masonry structure from steps to walls to stone-lined wells
6. Timber: Any wood not part of a deposit with some function that is not exclusively an artifact

See also

• Single context recording
• Harris matrix
• Archaeological plan
• Archaeological association
• Relationship (archaeology)
• Cut (archaeology)
• Archaeological section
• Feature (archaeology)
• Fill (archaeology)
• stratification

References

• The MoLAS archaeological site manual MoLAS, London 1994. In Archaeology fills are contexts representing material that has accumulated or has been deposited into a cut feature such as ditch or pit of Single context recording was developed in the 1970's by the Museum of London amongst others (notably at Winchester and York where the system was first used and has become The Harris matrix or Winchester seriation diagram is a tool used to depict the temporal succession of Archaeological contexts and thus the sequence of deposition on In an Archaeological excavation, an archaeological plan is a drawn record of features (and artifacts in the horizontal plane Association in Archaeology has more than one meaning and is confusing to the Layman. An archaeological relationship is the position in space and by implication in time of an object or context with respect to another In Archaeology and archeological stratification a cut or truncation is a context that represents a moment in time when other archaeological deposits In Archaeology a section is a view in part of the archaeological sequence showing it in the vertical plane as a cross section, and thereby illustrating Feature in archaeology and especially Excavation has several different but allied meanings In Archaeology fills are contexts representing material that has accumulated or has been deposited into a cut feature such as ditch or pit of In Archaeology, especially in the course of Excavation, stratification is a paramount and base concept ISBN 0-904818-40-3. Rb 128pp. bl/wh

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