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 ...

marker horizon Marker horizons (also referred to as chronohorizons, key beds or marker beds) are stratigraphic units of the same age and of such distinctive composition and appearance, that, despite their presence in separate geographic locations, there is no do ...

, 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 Phase or phases may refer to: Science *State of matter, or phase, one of the distinct forms in which matter can exist *Phase (matter), a region of space throughout which all physical properties are essentially uniform *Phase space, a mathematica ...

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 The Harris matrix is a tool used to depict the temporal succession of archaeological contexts and thus the sequence of depositions and surfaces on a 'dry land' archaeological site, otherwise called a 'stratigraphic sequence'. The matrix reflects ...

, which denotes a change in epoch on a given site by delineation in time of finds found within

context In semiotics, linguistics, sociology and anthropology, context refers to those objects or entities which surround a ''focal event'', in these disciplines typically a communicative event, of some kind. Context is "a frame that surrounds the event ...

s. 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 The archaeology of the Americas is the study of the archaeology of the Western Hemisphere, including North America (Mesoamerica), Central America, South America and the Caribbean. This includes the study of pre-historic/pre-Columbian and historic ...

"Horizon" terminology, used as

proper name A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (''Africa''; ''Jupiter''; ''Sarah''; ''Walmart'') as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, pl ...

s, 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 This is a chart of cultural periods of Peru and the Andean Region developed by John Rowe and Edward Lanning and used by some archaeologists studying the area. An alternative dating system was developed by Luis Lumbreras and provides different ...

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 Tiwanaku ( or ) is a Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia, near Lake Titicaca, about 70 kilometers from La Paz, and it is one of the largest sites in South America. Surface remains currently cover around 4 square kilometers and in ...

and

Wari culture The Wari () were a Pre-Inca cultures, Middle Horizon civilization that flourished in the south-central Andes and coastal area of modern-day Peru, from about 500 to 1000 AD. Wari ruins, Wari, as the former capital city was called, is located no ...

; Late Horizon,

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, 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 Gordon Randolph Willey (7 March 1913 – 28 April 2002) was an American archaeologist who was described by colleagues as the "dean" of New World archaeology.Sabloff 2004, p.406 Willey performed fieldwork at excavations in South America, Central A ...

and Philip Phillips in 1958 remain dominant, and the

Formative stage Several chronologies in the archaeology of the Americas include a Formative Period or Formative stage etc. It is often sub-divided, for example into "Early", "Middle" and "Late" stages. The Formative is the third of five stages defined by Gord ...

Classic stage In archaeological cultures of North America, the classic stage is the theoretical North and Meso-American societies that existed between AD 500 and 1200. This stage is the fourth of five stages posited by Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips' 195 ...

, and

Post-Classic stage In the classification of the archaeology of the Americas, the Post-Classic stage is a term applied to some Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian cultures, typically ending with local contact with Europeans. This stage is the fifth of five Archaeology, ...

cover approximately similar periods. More commonly, lower-case horizons such as an "

Olmec The Olmecs () or Olmec were an early known major Mesoamerican civilization, flourishing in the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco from roughly 1200 to 400 Before the Common Era, BCE during Mesoamerica's Mesoamerican chronolog ...

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
google books
/ref>

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