Single context recording
Encyclopedia
Single context recording was initially developed by Ed Harris and Patrick Ottaway in 1976, from a suggestion by Lawrence Keene. It was further developed by the Department of Urban Archaeology (Museum of London) from where it was then exported, in the mid 1980s by Pete Clarke to the Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust and Nick Pearson to the York Archaeological Trust. It has become a popular system of recording and planning being used in many countries in Europe and in Lebanon, it is especially suited to the complexities of deep, typically urban, archaeology.
Each excavated context
Archaeological context
In archaeology, not only the context of a discovery is a significant fact, but the formation of the context is as well. An archaeological context is an event in time which has been preserved in the archaeological record. The cutting of a pit or ditch in the past is a context, whilst the material...

 is given a unique "context number" and is recorded by type on a context sheet and perhaps being drawn on a plan
Archaeological plan
An archaeological plan in an archaeological excavation, is a drawn record of features in the horizontal plane.- Overview :Archaeological plan can either take the form of...

 and/or a section
Archaeological section
In archaeology a section is a view in part of the archaeological sequence showing it in the vertical plane, as a cross section, and thereby illustrating its profile and stratigraphy. This may make it easier to view and interpret as it developed over time....

. Depending on time constraints and importance contexts may also be photographed, but in this case a grouping of contexts and their associations are the purpose of the photography. Finds
Small finds
Small finds is an archaeological term for artifacts discovered on excavations which are somewhat special compared with the common finds for that type site or type phase on multi phasic sites. The special nature of the find is dictated by research agendas and the information the artifact can provide...

 from each context are bagged and labelled with their context number and site code for later cross reference work carried out post excavation
Post excavation
In archaeology once the archaeological record of given site has been excavated, or collected from surface surveys, it is necessary to gain as much data as possible and organize it into a coherent body of information. This process is known as post-excavation analysis, and is normally the most...

. The height above sea level of pertinent points on a context, such as the top and bottom of a wall are taken and added to plans sections and context sheets. Heights are recorded with a dumpy level
Dumpy level
A dumpy level, builder's auto level, leveling instrument, or automatic level is an optical instrument used to establish or check points in the same horizontal plane...

 or total station by relation to the site temporary benchmark
Benchmark (surveying)
The term bench mark, or benchmark, originates from the chiseled horizontal marks that surveyors made in stone structures, into which an angle-iron could be placed to form a "bench" for a leveling rod, thus ensuring that a leveling rod could be accurately repositioned in the same place in the future...

(abbr. T.B.M). Samples of deposits from contexts are sometimes also taken, for later environmental analysis or for scientific dating.

The single context recording system in practice

Contexts being excavated are recorded on context sheets which vary in style depending on practitioner but in general share characteristics. Most will have sections for composition of soils or profiles for cuts. it is common practice to have special sheets available to record contexts denoted by; masonry, timber and skeletons listing the many variables that are of interest to the archaeologists both onsite and post excavation
Post excavation
In archaeology once the archaeological record of given site has been excavated, or collected from surface surveys, it is necessary to gain as much data as possible and organize it into a coherent body of information. This process is known as post-excavation analysis, and is normally the most...

. A plan
Archaeological plan
An archaeological plan in an archaeological excavation, is a drawn record of features in the horizontal plane.- Overview :Archaeological plan can either take the form of...

 is also made that conforms to grid squares (usually setup as a 5m grid).

Revealing the sequence

Single context recording of a stratigraphically excavated sequence evolves into an overlay of planned contexts that build a Harris matrix
Harris matrix
The Harris matrix is a tool used to depict the temporal succession of archaeological contexts and thus the sequence of deposition on a 'dry land' archaeological site. The matrix reflects the relative position and stratigraphic contacts of observable stratigraphic units, or contexts. The Matrix was...

 during excavation. (see Stratification (archeology)
Stratification (archeology)
Stratification is a paramount and base concept in archaeology, especially in the course of excavation. It is largely based on the Law of Superposition...

 and Harris matrix
Harris matrix
The Harris matrix is a tool used to depict the temporal succession of archaeological contexts and thus the sequence of deposition on a 'dry land' archaeological site. The matrix reflects the relative position and stratigraphic contacts of observable stratigraphic units, or contexts. The Matrix was...

)
This is demonstrated in the gallery below of a hypothetical and abstract 5 step sequence
Sequence (archaeological)
The archaeological sequence or sequence for short, on a specific archaeological site can be defined on two levels of rigour.# Normally it is adequate to equate it to archaeological record. However, the two terms are not exactly interchangeable...

 of contexts. The excavation starts with the planning and removal of a deposit in step 1 and continues down through a sequence of 4 cut
Cut (archaeology)
In Archaeology and archeological stratification a cut or truncation is a context that represents a moment in time when other archaeological deposits were removed for the creation of some feature such as a ditch or pit...

 features
Feature (archaeology)
Feature in archaeology and especially excavation has several different but allied meanings. A feature is a collection of one or more contexts representing some human non-portable activity that generally has a vertical characteristic to it in relation to site stratigraphy. Examples of features are...

. Note how only the stratigraphic relationships build into the matrix as the excavation progresses rather than all the physical relationships. (For planning convention styles see archaeological plan
Archaeological plan
An archaeological plan in an archaeological excavation, is a drawn record of features in the horizontal plane.- Overview :Archaeological plan can either take the form of...

)




In reality the process is more complex and involves many more contexts for the series of features shown in the diagram. This is because the contexts representing the fills
Fill (archaeology)
In archaeology fills are contexts representing material that has accumulated or has been deposited into a cut feature such as ditch or pit of some kind...

 have been omitted for simplicity and the matrix shown is more akin to a Carver matrix (Not to be confused with the military term also named CARVER matrix
CARVER matrix
The CARVER matrix was developed by the United States special operations forces during the Vietnam War. CARVER is an acronym that stands for Criticality, Accessibility, Recuperability, Vulnerability, Effect and Recognizability and is a system to identify and rank specific targets so that attack...

).

Critics of single context recording

Critics of single context recording point out that it encourages a lazy attitude towards attempts to phase
Archaeological phase
Archaeological phase and phasing refers to the logical reduction of contexts recorded during excavation to near contemporary archaeological horizons that represent a distinct "phase" of previous land use. These often but not always will be a representation of a former land surface or occupation...

 the site while excavation is in progress and diminshes the incentative for archaeologists to interpret what they are digging beyond the boundaries of the context being excavated rather than trying to understand it using the entire area of the site for insight. It is argued this lack of interpretation leads to thoughtless use of the law of superposition creating chronological anomalies from features and contexts of a tunneling nature such as drain backfills, buried waterfront tiebacks or natural processes. Counter critics argue that while this is a possibility no archaeologist needs to be transfixed by the recording system if they are faced with a stratigraphic conundrum and deviation from a pure single context recording regime is not a sin moreover single context recording is not an excuse for not attempting to view the site as a whole during excavation.

See also

  • Archaeological context
    Archaeological context
    In archaeology, not only the context of a discovery is a significant fact, but the formation of the context is as well. An archaeological context is an event in time which has been preserved in the archaeological record. The cutting of a pit or ditch in the past is a context, whilst the material...

  • Archaeological plan
    Archaeological plan
    An archaeological plan in an archaeological excavation, is a drawn record of features in the horizontal plane.- Overview :Archaeological plan can either take the form of...

  • Archaeological association
    Archaeological association
    Association in archaeology has more than one meaning and is confusing to the layman. Archaeology has been critiqued as a soft science with a somewhat poor standardization of terms.-Finds and objects:...

  • Relationship (archaeology)
    Relationship (archaeology)
    An archaeological relationship is the position in space and by implication, in time, of an object or context with respect to another. This is determined, not by linear measurement but by determining the sequence of their deposition - which arrived before the other...

  • Cut (archaeology)
    Cut (archaeology)
    In Archaeology and archeological stratification a cut or truncation is a context that represents a moment in time when other archaeological deposits were removed for the creation of some feature such as a ditch or pit...

  • Archaeological section
    Archaeological section
    In archaeology a section is a view in part of the archaeological sequence showing it in the vertical plane, as a cross section, and thereby illustrating its profile and stratigraphy. This may make it easier to view and interpret as it developed over time....

  • Feature (archaeology)
    Feature (archaeology)
    Feature in archaeology and especially excavation has several different but allied meanings. A feature is a collection of one or more contexts representing some human non-portable activity that generally has a vertical characteristic to it in relation to site stratigraphy. Examples of features are...

  • Excavation

External links

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