Journal
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THEORY
Volume 26, Issue 4, Pages 1591-1631Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10816-019-09417-x
Keywords
Excavation methods; Single-context recording; Micromorphology; 3D laser scanning; Viking-Age Scandinavia; Ribe
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Funding
- Carlsberg Foundation
- Danish National Research Foundation under Centre of Excellence for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet) [DNRF119]
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Recently, new augmented recording techniques have entered archaeological fieldwork. We review a major urban excavation in Ribe, Denmark, which has adopted a systematic use of 3D laser scanning and intensive soil and sediment micromorphological sampling as part of the excavation recording practice. Both methods represent a major advance in field documentation, achieving a higher degree of detail and precision for the recording of archaeological features. We argue that these technologies also challenge the current paradigm of single-context recording, i.e. the separation of layers and features as all-encompassing units of recording. First, 3D digital recording implies that contexts are defined in a more definite way than previously, with less flexibility for recursive revision. Second, micromorphology demonstrates how the strata separated in excavation are only a subset of those created in deposition. We call for a new approach, which takes into consideration the fact that excavation units do not always mirror depositional events, as assumed by single-context theory, and that different kinds of observations may not overlap, as assumed in single-context practice. Instead, interfaces, matrices and assemblages are restored as separate units to record and feed into the interpretation cycle. This may be described as recording metacontext: observations that go across or between contexts. We demonstrate how a systematic metacontext registration can lead to a manageable and more detailed excavation record, more faithful to the archaeologists' observations.
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