Single Context, Metacontext, and High Definition Archaeology: Integrating New Standards of Stratigraphic Excavation and Recording

Croix, Sarah; Deckers, Pieterjan; Feveile, Claus; Knudsen, Maria L.; Qvistgaard, Sarah Skytte; Sindbæk, Søren M.; Wouters, Barbora

doi:10.1007/s10816-019-09417-x

Cited by 30 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…These requirements suggested the application of the open area, single context approach, well known and highly developed in some sectors (e.g., UK commercial archaeology: Westman 1994) but not often utilized in Greece (though see Sanders, James, and Carter Johnson 2017, 1-3). Although some archaeologists in northern Europe might assume the single context approach is a widely understood and practiced starting point (e.g., Croix et al 2019), in fact this is another assumption about the black box of field practice. Single context recording is far from ubiquitous on a worldwide level and remains relatively rare in Greece.…”

Section: Planning and Implementing A New Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although not yet universally adopted for field recording, photogrammetric techniques are maturing, and standard approaches have been proposed (Sapirstein and Murray 2017; Croix et al 2019).…”

Section: Enhanced Single Context Recordingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other approaches to excavation sometimes recognize their importance without necessarily systematizing an approach to their excavation and recording. The problem of recording the surface is part of a wider question within single context recording, which concerns time depth (Croix et al 2019). The formation event model does not distinguish well between short and long term events, so that surfaces (used and perceptibly altered over long durations), deposits which gradually accrete over time (such as the infilling of ditches), or gradual erosion events are less well-represented than shortterm events due to human action or rapid collapse.…”

Section: Enhanced Single Context Recordingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Missing from Figure 8 is what Croix andcolleagues (2019, 1593) call "metacontext," by which they mean the description of the interpretative process. In the field, we used diaries (initially hand written, subsequently digitized) to record the progress of the excavation and the thought processes involved in daily decisions such as changing context (recorded more analytically in terms of contextual difference in iDig) or where to allocate resources.…”

Section: Progress and Problems In The Totally Integrated Workflowmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Open Area, Open Data: Advances in Reflexive Archaeological Practice

Boyd

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Doonan

et al. 2021

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Section: Planning and Implementing A New Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Enhanced Single Context Recordingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Enhanced Single Context Recordingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Progress and Problems In The Totally Integrated Workflowmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Open Area, Open Data: Advances in Reflexive Archaeological Practice

Boyd

Campbell

Doonan

et al. 2021

Journal of Field Archaeology

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“…The Caesar's Forum Project has the possibility of setting up a new workflow: all excavation documentation is 3D and georeferenced, and the amount of data that can be acquired is considerably higher than in the past, with lower costs and greater precision. The question is not only practical, but also theoretical and linked to the Big Data debate in the human sciences and archaeology (Croix et al 2019;Halevi and Moed 2012, 3-6). The methodological approach to archaeological excavations inevitably should move in this direction.…”

Section: Data Dissemination Challenges Within Urban Archaeological Prmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practicing Urban Archaeology in a Modern City: The Alessandrino Quarter of Rome

Jacobsen

Murro

Presicce

et al. 2020

Journal of Field Archaeology

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This article describes the documentation according to FAIR principles of the first phase of the excavation of parts of the Alessandrino Quarter-an area of central Rome that has largely remained unexplored, although situated in the center of what is today one of the most visited cities in Europe. Archaeological fieldwork in modern cities presents excavators with a particular set of challenges. Prominent among these is archaeological complexity-the dense and complex stratigraphies, preserving vast amounts of accumulated data, that result from the often continuous transformation of urban space over millennia. While archaeologists readily acknowledge this, they seldom make public the lessons learned from conducting urban archaeological projects in modern contexts. This article seeks to make a contribution specifically in this area.

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Microarchaeological approach to underwater stratigraphy of submerged settlements: A case study of Atlit‐Yam Pre‐Pottery Neolithic site, off the Carmel Coast, Israel

et al. 2023

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The investigation of submerged archaeological sites faces numerous logistical challenges in the recovery of stratigraphic sequences and, as a result, is often restricted to surface deposits limiting the application of geoarchaeology. This paper outlines a new integrated field and microanalytical methodological protocol to investigate deep stratigraphic sequences (up to 2 m) within the submerged Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) site of Atlit-Yam (9267-7970 cal. B.P. [calibrated years before the present]). A new coring method for the extraction of deep underwater stratigraphy was developed to extract three cores: two between architectural remains within the site and one outside the site. The cores were analysed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, phytolith and pollen analysis and archaeological micromorphology to detect anthropogenic signals and undertake paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Our results indicate anthropogenic evidence at 95 cm depth based on the presence of heat-altered sediments, high phytolith concentrations and micromorphological observations of archaeological remains. Radiocarbon analysis indicates the oldest anthropogenic layers date to the Mid Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) and Late PPNB (9859-9323 cal. B.P.), bearing implications for reassessing the emergence of the first coastal Neolithic villages in the Mediterranean. Our integrated field and multiproxy micro-geoarchaeological protocol offers a new approach to detecting and studying submerged archaeological sites worldwide.

show abstract

Single Context, Metacontext, and High Definition Archaeology: Integrating New Standards of Stratigraphic Excavation and Recording

Cited by 30 publications

References 47 publications

Open Area, Open Data: Advances in Reflexive Archaeological Practice

Open Area, Open Data: Advances in Reflexive Archaeological Practice

Practicing Urban Archaeology in a Modern City: The Alessandrino Quarter of Rome

Microarchaeological approach to underwater stratigraphy of submerged settlements: A case study of Atlit‐Yam Pre‐Pottery Neolithic site, off the Carmel Coast, Israel

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