Tel Excavation: Uneven Stratigraphy

When excavating a Tel there are some common complications that diggers must be aware of. These next few posts will help familiarize new diggers with these problems and the terminology used to describe them.

Uneven Stratigraphy:

The first thing we need to realize is that, while a Tel may be described as a cake or onion with multiple layers, these layers are never constructed in nice, orderly, evenly separated, and clearly defined, lines.

 See, the two 'Tel' on either side here? The one on the left is a nice, evenly distributed Tel. The one on the right is a bit more true to life, (though still a bit 'neat') with the layers all sloped and walls from later periods cut into earlier periods. There is little ability to predict when the next layer will appear, or how deep a layer is until you dig all the way through it. Some layers may be a few inches thick in one area, and several feet thick in another area.


This is why it is paramount for a digger to keep a careful eye on what he/she is doing on a dig site. When soil begins to change (color, composition, compaction, etc) it could signal the start of a new layer. It is up to the digger to alert his area supervisor when he/she believes they have noticed such a change occurring. At times, the change can be so minute as some dark brown dirt slowly becoming more tan and less dark.

By keeping a keen eye on where you are digging and what you are seeing on a daily basis, an effective digger can help ensure that proper dating takes place for any artifacts found within that area. 

Summer Dig - 2013

There will be a continuation of the previous phase of digging beginning this summer with Dr. Mazar. The list of student diggers has been updated. More info to come... :)

Tel Excavation: A Few Basic Concepts

Today's post covers the theme of our most recent Digger's moot by explaining a few basic concepts of Tel Excavation. Should anything I say be wrong, partly or completely, please let me know.

Digger's should understand the basic construction of a Tel, and the need for dates. With this knowledge one is more likely to be careful when digging and less likely to corrupt or damage vital evidence through carelessness.

A Tel is a mound, or hill, where a series of cities once existed. These cities were built on sites that usually had 4 basic requirements: land to grow food, a water source, a semi-defensible position, and close proximity to a trade route. When some disaster lead to the destruction and abandonment of a city (invasion, famine, flood, God's wrath, etc.) the site where the city stood would still be a good spot for a city. Over time debris, sand, mud, and other things would bury what remained of the previous occupation. A new city would be built, destroyed, left to sit, rebuilt and destroyed again. This process lead to the formation of the Tels that we are now excavating.

Each layer of occupation is called an occupational layer. These layers can be dated to a relative time period using the pottery found, thanks to the work of Flinders Petrie. Pottery changed over time, and was used in large quantities. Broken pottery fragments are littered all over a destroyed city and can be analyzed to get an approximate date.
Radiocarbon analysis is another method of dating that is often used. This relies on analyzing the amount of carbon-14 within organic materials found in a layer.

Dating an occupational layer is very important. Any significant artifact found is only relevant if a date can be assigned to the artifact's time of existence.
Though a written record would be the best witness to the events of the past, they are very rare and sometimes hard to read. Without written evidence, we must rely on everything else left behind to reconstruct an image of the past.

In the paraphrased version of the words of Flinders Petrie, everything is evidence to the archaeologist.

That's all for now!

-Digger Justin