archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

, the general meaning of horizon is a distinctive type of sediment, artefact, style, or other cultural trait that is found across a large geographical area from a limited time period. The term derives from similar ones in

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

horizon The horizon is the apparent curve that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This curve divides all viewing directions based on whethe ...

or marker horizon, but where these have natural causes, archaeological horizons are caused by humans. Most typically, there is a change in the type of

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

found and in the style of less frequent major artefacts. Across a horizon, the same type of artefact or style is found very widely over a large area, and it can be assumed that these traces are approximately contemporary.

General

The term is used to denote a series of stratigraphic relationships that constitute a phase or are part of the process of determining the archaeological phases of a site. An archaeological horizon can be understood as a break in contexts formed in the Harris matrix, which denotes a change in epoch on a given site by delineation in time of finds found within contexts. An example of a horizon is the dark earth horizon in England, which separates Roman artefacts from medieval artefacts and which may indicate the abandonment of urban areas in Roman Britain during the 2nd to 5th centuries. The term "archaeological horizon" is sometimes, and somewhat incorrectly, used in place of the term layer or

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

Americas

In the archaeology of the Americas "Horizon" terminology, used as proper names, has become used for schemes of periodization of major periods. "Horizons" are periods of cultural stability and political unity, with "Intermediate periods" covering the politically fragmented transition between them. In the periodization of pre-Columbian Peru and the Central

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

, there are three Horizon periods with two Intermediate periods between them. The Horizons and their dominant cultures are: Early Horizon, Chavin; Middle Horizon, Tiwanaku and Wari culture; Late Horizon, Inca. The same terms (Early, Middle, and Late Horizons) are sometimes used for the

Mesoamerican chronology Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian, prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BC ...

, though there the five stages defined by Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips in 1958 remain dominant, and the Formative stage, Classic stage, and Post-Classic stage cover approximately similar periods. More commonly, lower-case horizons such as an " Olmec horizon" are referred to for the region.Grove, David C., in ''Latin American Horizons: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 11th and 12th October 1986'', pp. 83-111, 88 on Barbara Price's capitialized scheme, Dumbarton Oaks, 1993, , 978088402207
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Notes

References

* *{{cite book , author=David W. Anthony , title=The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nLIufwC4szwC&pg=PA131 , access-date=21 October 2011 , year=2007 , publisher=Princeton University Press , isbn=978-0-691-05887-0 , pages=131– , chapter=How to Reconstruct a Dead Culture Methods in archaeology

General

Americas

See also

Notes

References