1.2 Development of the stratigraphic record

Over the last 40 years recording a site has developed a great deal in Britain (Hammer 1992). When not just one person, but each member of the field team became responsible for recording, the notebook record changed to the use of single record sheets. Previously multi-context plans were drawn, which showed neither necessarily the entire outline of deposits nor their absolute height but an arbitrary site or 'phase' horizon. Apart from the description and plan the most important record for establishing a sound site sequence is the stratigraphic record, which was formerly mainly recorded from sections/profiles.

The relationship of contexts were recorded as seen while excavating, i.e. all physically touching relationships of layers including those to adjacent fills of features. This kind of record followed geological laws, such as the 'Laws of Superposition' (Howe 1970), 'Original Horizontality', and 'Original Continuity'. However, for deep and complicated build-up of layers, inter-cutting features, subsidence of deposits and robber trenches multi-context plans proved to be too complex and sometimes an impossible basis from which to reconstruct a sequence.

The need to simplify the record for complicated sites was recognised by Edward Harris (1975-79) and brought the biggest change. He added to the three geological laws the 'Law of Stratigraphic Succession' (Harris and Reece 1979, in Harris 1979, p 113):

"Any given unit of archaeological stratification takes its place in the stratigraphic sequence of a site from its position between the under-most of all units, which lie above it and the uppermost of those units, which lie below it and with which it has a physical contact, all other super-positional relationships being regarded as redundant".

A further important step to simplify the record came with Harris' introduction of a 'Feature Interface' for the cutting action (Figure 1). This helped to clarify the 'stratigraphic relationships' between deposition prior to and after the occurrence of a cut feature, and it eliminated the irrelevant record of 'physical relationships'. Harris also used the 'Layer Interface', the 'horizontal' and the 'upstanding' surface. We did not introduce this kind of record on site, as a surface of one or several deposits is recognised during analysis as a group/phase division. After the initial transition of section drawings into 'matrices', the use of sequence diagrams for the relation of plan records was further developed in close contact between Harris and MoL.