Typology - Seriation Activity
Seriation is a useful relative dating technique used by archaeologists, which relies on the fact that artifact styles change through time. The central idea is that types of artifacts are slowly introduced into a social system, gradually increase in popularity, eventually decrease in use, and then disappear. James Ford, and other culture historians, first developed the technique of seriation using ceramics from archaeological sites in the American Southwest.
Below is a frequency seriation for ten archaeological sites in eastern Arkansas, located approximately X miles northeast of the Poverty Point site (see map). Phillip Phillips, James Ford and James Griffin, who surveyed the Lower Mississippi Valley during the 1940s, collected the data used in this seriation. {7} We will focus on 5 types of ceramics found at these sites, as shown in the previous page.
From systematic excavations we know that Mulberry Creek Cord-Marked and Baytown Plain are typically found stratigraphically below the Parkin Punctated, Barton Incised and Old Town Red sherds. The sherds have already been counted and converted to percentages for you. Your job is to put the 10 sites in proper chronological order, from oldest to youngest. Note- there is only one correct answer!
Instructions: Drag each seriation strip in order based on the types of artifacts. You should put the sites in order with the oldest at the bottom and the youngest at the top. Then type in the order of the sites from oldest to youngest in the bottom boxes and answer the questions below.
Time: 10-15 min. (questions not included in time)
Answer the Following Questions:
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