Content deleted Content added
m Dating maintenance tags: {{By whom}} |
Unnecessary and counter to MoS Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
||
Line 4:
[[File:Brucesmatrix.png|thumb|Large Harris matrix of an urban sequence]]
The '''Harris matrix''' is a tool used to depict the temporal succession of [[archaeological context]]s and thus the sequence of depositions and surfaces on a 'dry land' archaeological site, otherwise called a 'stratigraphic sequence'. The matrix reflects the relative position and [[stratigraphy|stratigraphic]] contacts of observable stratigraphic units, or contexts. It was developed in 1973 in Winchester, England, by
The concept of creating [[Seriation (archaeology)|seriation]] diagrams of archaeological strata based on the physical relationship between strata had had some currency in [[Winchester]] and other urban centres in England prior to Harris's formalisation. One of the results of Harris's work, however, was the realisation that sites had to be excavated stratigraphically, in the reverse order to that in which they were created, without the use of arbitrary measures of stratification such as [[spit (archaeology)|spit]]s or {{not a typo|[[planum (archaeology)|planum]]s}}. In his ''Principles of archaeological stratigraphy'' Harris first proposed the need for each unit of stratification to have its own graphic representation, usually in the form of a measured plan. In articulating the laws of archaeological stratigraphy and developing a system in which to demonstrate simply and graphically the sequence of deposition or truncation on a site, Harris, it has been argued,{{By whom|date=February 2023}} has followed in the footsteps of notable stratigraphic archaeologists such as Mortimer Wheeler, without necessarily being a notable excavator himself.
| |||