1.
Goosehill Camp
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Goosehill Camp is a prehistoric earthwork that dates back to the Iron Age. It consists of two banks and ditches. The inner enclosure has one entrance and surround two levelled hut sites, goosehill Camp is within the Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve, on the South Downs. Goosehill Camps first recorded excavation was carried out by J. R. Boyden and this excavation was carried out between 1953 and 1955. The most recent excavation took place between 2008-2009 and was carried out by the University College Londons Institute of Archaeology, under Mark Roberts and these excavations were complemented by a topographical survey and a magnetometry survey
2.
West Sussex
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West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering East Sussex to the east, Hampshire to the west and Surrey to the north, and to the south the English Channel. Chichester in the southwest is the county town and only city in West Sussex, with the largest towns being Crawley, Worthing, West Sussex has a range of scenery, including wealden, downland and coastal. The highest point of the county is Blackdown, at 280 metres and it has a number of stately homes including Goodwood, Petworth House and Uppark and also castles such as Arundel Castle and Bramber Castle. Over half the county is protected countryside, offering walking, cycling, although the name Sussex, derived from the Old English Sūþsēaxe, is from the Saxon period between AD477 to 1066, the history of human habitation in Sussex goes back to the Old Stone Age. The oldest hominin remains known in Britain were found at Eartham Pit, Sussex has been occupied since those times and has succumbed to various invasions and migrations throughout its long history. Prehistoric monuments include the Devils Jumps, a group of Bronze Age burial mounds, the Romans used the Weald for iron production on an industrial scale. The foundation story is regarded as somewhat of a myth by most historians, the Kingdom of Sussex was absorbed into Wessex as an earldom and became the county of Sussex. With its origins in the kingdom of Sussex, the county of Sussex was traditionally divided into six units known as rapes. By the 16th century, the three western rapes were grouped together informally, having their own separate Quarter Sessions and these were administered by a separate county council from 1888, the county of Sussex being divided for administrative purposes into the administrative counties of East and West Sussex. In 1974, West Sussex was made a ceremonial county with the coming into force of the Local Government Act 1972. At the same time a part of the eastern rape of Lewes was transferred into West Sussex. Until 1834 provision for the poor and destitute in West Sussex was made at parish level, from 1835 until 1948 eleven Poor Law Unions, each catering for several parishes, took on the job. Most settlements in West Sussex are either along the south coast or in Mid Sussex, the town of Crawley is the largest in the county with an estimated population of 106,600. The coastal settlement of Worthing closely follows with a population of 104,600, the seaside resort of Bognor Regis and market town Horsham are both large towns. Chichester, the county town, has a cathedral and city status, much of the coastal town population is part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. Rustington and Southwater are the next largest settlements in the county, there are several more towns in West Sussex, although they are of similar size to other villages. The smaller towns of the county are Arundel, Midhurst, Petworth, Selsey, the larger villages are Billingshurst, Copthorne, Crawley Down, Cuckfield, Henfield, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint, Lindfield, Pulborough and Storrington. The current total population of the county makes up 1. 53% of Englands population, West Sussex is bordered by Hampshire to the west, Surrey to the north and East Sussex to the east
3.
Athens
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Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. In modern times, Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime. In 2015, Athens was ranked the worlds 29th richest city by purchasing power, Athens is recognised as a global city because of its location and its importance in shipping, finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, culture, education and tourism. It is one of the biggest economic centres in southeastern Europe, with a financial sector. The municipality of Athens had a population of 664,046 within its limits. The urban area of Athens extends beyond its administrative city limits. According to Eurostat in 2011, the Functional urban areas of Athens was the 9th most populous FUA in the European Union, Athens is also the southernmost capital on the European mainland. The city also retains Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a number of Ottoman monuments. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery, Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years later it welcomed home the 2004 Summer Olympics. In Ancient Greek, the name of the city was Ἀθῆναι a plural, in earlier Greek, such as Homeric Greek, the name had been current in the singular form though, as Ἀθήνη. It was possibly rendered in the later on, like those of Θῆβαι and Μυκῆναι. During the medieval period the name of the city was rendered once again in the singular as Ἀθήνα, an etiological myth explaining how Athens has acquired its name was well known among ancient Athenians and even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon. The goddess of wisdom, Athena, and the god of the seas, Poseidon had many disagreements, in an attempt to compel the people, Poseidon created a salt water spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. However, when Athena created the tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. Different etymologies, now rejected, were proposed during the 19th century. Christian Lobeck proposed as the root of the name the word ἄθος or ἄνθος meaning flower, ludwig von Döderlein proposed the stem of the verb θάω, stem θη- to denote Athens as having fertile soil. In classical literature, the city was referred to as the City of the Violet Crown, first documented in Pindars ἰοστέφανοι Ἀθᾶναι. In medieval texts, variant names include Setines, Satine, and Astines, today the caption η πρωτεύουσα, the capital, has become somewhat common
4.
Archaeology
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
5.
Excavation (archaeology)
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In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or dig is a site being studied, such a site excavation concerns itself with a specific archaeological site or a connected series of sites, and may be conducted over as little as several weeks to over a number of years. Numerous specialized techniques each with its features are used. Resources and other practical issues do not allow archaeologists to carry out excavations whenever and wherever they choose and these constraints mean many known sites have been deliberately left unexcavated. This is with the intention of preserving them for generations as well as recognising the role they serve in the communities that live near them. Excavation involves the recovery of types of data from a site. These data include artifacts, features, ecofacts and, most importantly, ideally, data from the excavation should suffice to reconstruct the site completely in three-dimensional space. The presence or absence of remains can often be suggested by remote sensing. Indeed, grosser information about the development of the site may be drawn from this work, the history of excavation began with a crude search for treasure and for artifacts which fell into the category of curio. These curios were the subject of interest of antiquarians and it was later appreciated that digging on a site destroyed the evidence of earlier peoples lives which it had contained. Once the curio had been removed from its context, most of the information it held was lost and it was from this realization that antiquarianism began to be replaced by archaeology, a process still being perfected. Archaeological material tends to accumulate in events, a gardener swept a pile of soil into a corner, laid a gravel path or planted a bush in a hole. A builder built a wall and back-filled the trench, years later, someone built a pig sty onto it and drained the pig sty into the nettle patch. Later still, the original wall blew over and so on, each event, which may have taken a short or long time to accomplish, leaves a context. This layer cake of events is referred to as the archaeological sequence or record. It is by analysis of sequence or record that excavation is intended to permit interpretation. As he remarked, waiting for animals to hunt represented 24% of the total man-hours of activity recorded, no tools left on the site were used, and there were no immediate material byproducts of the primary activity. All of the activities conducted at the site were essentially boredom reducers
6.
Stratigraphy
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Stratigraphy is a branch of geology which studies rock layers and layering. It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks, stratigraphy has two related subfields, lithologic stratigraphy or lithostratigraphy, and biologic stratigraphy or biostratigraphy. The first practical application of stratigraphy was by William Smith in the 1790s. Another influential application of stratigraphy in the early 19th century was a study by Georges Cuvier, variation in rock units, most obviously displayed as visible layering, is due to physical contrasts in rock type. This variation can occur vertically as layering, or laterally, and these variations provide a lithostratigraphy or lithologic stratigraphy of the rock unit. Key concepts in stratigraphy involve understanding how certain geometric relationships between rock layers arise and what these geometries imply about their original depositional environment. The basic concept in stratigraphy, called the law of superposition, states, in a stratigraphic sequence. Chemostratigraphy studies the changes in the proportions of trace elements and isotopes within. Carbon and oxygen isotope ratios vary with time, and researchers can use those to map subtle changes that occurred in the paleoenvironment and this has led to the specialized field of isotopic stratigraphy. Biostratigraphy or paleontologic stratigraphy is based on evidence in the rock layers. Strata from widespread locations containing the fossil fauna and flora are said to be correlatable in time. Biologic stratigraphy was based on William Smiths principle of succession, which predated. It provides strong evidence for the formation and extinction of species, the geologic time scale was developed during the 19th century, based on the evidence of biologic stratigraphy and faunal succession. One important development is the Vail curve, which attempts to define a global historical sea-level curve according to inferences from worldwide stratigraphic patterns, stratigraphy is also commonly used to delineate the nature and extent of hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir rocks, seals, and traps of petroleum geology. Chronostratigraphy is the branch of stratigraphy that places an absolute age, a gap or missing strata in the geological record of an area is called a stratigraphic hiatus. This may be the result of a halt in the deposition of sediment, alternatively, the gap may be due to removal by erosion, in which case it may be called a stratigraphic vacuity. It is called a hiatus because deposition was on hold for a period of time, a physical gap may represent both a period of non-deposition and a period of erosion. A geologic fault may cause the appearance of a hiatus, magnetostratigraphy is a chronostratigraphic technique used to date sedimentary and volcanic sequences
7.
Context (archaeology)
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In archaeology context is used as a technical term referring to the remains of an individual stratigraphic event. Contexts, therefore, are events in time which have preserved in the archaeological record. The cutting of a pit or ditch in the past is a context, multiple fills, seen as layers in archaeological section would mean multiple contexts. Structural features, natural deposits and inhumations are also contexts, by separating a site into these basic, discrete units, archaeologists are able to create a chronology for activity on a site and describe and interpret it. Artifacts in the main are not treated as contexts but belonging of them, contexts can be referred to positive or negative depending on whether their formation added or removed material from the archaeological record. It can not be stressed too strongly how fundamentally important the concept of context is in modern archaeological practice, context is the prevalent term among English-speaking archaeologists but the term locus may also be used. Deposits and cuts are commonly used context types. Beyond this there is little standardization, the sequence of contexts on an archaeological site can be systematically described by a Harris matrix. Single context recording is a system of recording and planning which treats each context on par in the process of excavation, the system of planning creates a superimposable stack of semi transparent plans that can be stacked in stratigraphic order to reconstruct the site as it was excavated. The use of context as discrete units does not necessitate single context recording but it does facilitate its use, other methods of excavation such as removing spits of material make the recording of contexts more difficult
8.
Cut (archaeology)
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In laymans terms, a cut can be thought of a hole that was dug in the past, though cut also applies to other parts of the archaeological record such as horizontal truncations like terraced ground. A cut context is referred to as a negative context as opposed to a positive context. A cut has zero thickness and no material properties of its own and is defined by the limits of other contexts, cuts are seen in the record by virtue of the difference between the material it was cut through and the material that back fills it. This difference is seen as an edge by the archaeologists on site, sometimes these differences are not clear and an archaeologist must rely on experience and insight to discover cuts. Re-cuts are cuts made within the confines or near confines of other cuts, re-cuts are considered quite valuable as a source of information because they can shed insight on function and attitude over time. An example of re-cutting would be a ditch being re-cut and emptied of silt. Conversely, a ditch that is never re-cut gives a certain impression about the attitude towards the investment in infrastructure the road represents. Re-cuts by their nature are hard to discern because the re-cut can truncate the original cut in part and they can even be absent from the record. Cutting is the reason why not all past activity on a site leaves traces of its existence in the sequence Fig 2 shows how a cut with at least two re-cuts may appear when viewed in section. It is possible that numerous other re-cuts took place and were truncated out of the record by one or more of the re-cuts that has survived
9.
Harris matrix
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The matrix reflects the relative position and stratigraphic contacts of observable stratigraphic units, or contexts. The Matrix was developed in 1973 in Winchester, England, by Dr. Edward C, in his Principles of archaeological stratigraphy Harris first proposed the need for each unit of stratification to have its own graphic representation, usually in the form of a measured plan. Any archaeological layer deposited in a form will tend towards a horizontal disposition. Strata which are found with tilted surfaces were so originally deposited, any archaeological deposit, as originally laid down, will be bounded by the edge of the basin of deposition, or will thin down to a feather edge. These laws were published in 1979, a fifth law of archaeological stratigraphy has also been added following papers presented at the Interpreting Stratigraphy a Review of the Art conferences in the UK from 1992 to 2003. In constructing a matrix, the latest contexts sit on top of the matrix, the matrix thus demonstrates the temporal relationship between any two units of archaeological stratification. While excavating, it is best practice to compile the area, urban archaeological sites are complex affairs, often generating thousands of units of archaeological stratigraphy. It is of more vital importance when excavating such sites to compile the matrix as the excavation progresses. This ensures a consistent record and that the complexity of the site is given due regard. Computer programmes do exist which can aid the production of a matrix, the Harris matrix is a tool that aids the accurate and consistent excavation of a site and articulates complex sequences in a clear and understandable way. Harris matrices play an role in the articulation of sequence. Take this hypothetical section as an example of matrix formation, the order in which these events occurred and the reverse order they should have been excavated with would be demonstrated by the following Harris matrix. The later a contexts formation is, the higher it is in the matrix, and conversely the earlier it is and this is because the formation of the backfill and floor happened later. Also note the matrix splits into two parts below the construction cut 5, however the position of cut 5 and natural layer 11 ties the matrix together above and below the split in the matrix. Starting at the bottom, the events occurred in this section is revealed by the matrix as follows. Natural ground formation 11 was followed by the laying down of layers 9 and 10 which probably occurred as the same event, then a shallow pit 8 was cut and then back filled with 7. This pit feature in turn was sealed by the laying down of layer 1 which is probably the event as layer 4. Finally clay floor 6 is laid down to the right of wall 2 over backfill 3 indicating a probable interior surface, the nature of archaeological investigation and the subjective nature of all human experience means that a degree of interpretive activity obviously occurs during the process of excavation
10.
Law of superposition
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The law of superposition is an axiom that forms one of the bases of the sciences of geology, archaeology, and other fields dealing with geological stratigraphy. In its plainest form, it states that in undeformed stratigraphic sequences and this is important to stratigraphic dating, which assumes that the law of superposition holds true and that an object cannot be older than the materials of which it is composed. The law was first proposed in the 17th century by the Danish scientist Nicolas Steno, man made intrusions and activity in the archaeological record need not form chronologically from top to bottom or be deformed from the horizontal as natural strata are by equivalent processes. Some archaeological strata are created by undercutting previous strata, an example would be that the silt back-fill of an underground drain would form some time after the ground immediately above it. Other examples of non vertical superposition would be modifications to standing structures such as the creation of new doors, Superposition in archaeology requires a degree of interpretation to correctly identify chronological sequences and in this sense superposition in archaeology is more dynamic and multi-dimensional. K. The Earths Dynamic Systems, A Textbook in Physical Geology, by W. Kenneth Hamblin, BYU, Provo, UT, william L. Chesser, Dennis Tasa, c 1978, pg. 115, The Principle of Superposition and Original Horizontality, pg,116, The Principle of Faunal Succession, The Principle of Crosscutting Relations, pg 116-17, The Principle of Inclusion. 40 figs.1 pl.136 pp. London & New York, Academic Press ISBN 0-12-326650-5
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Principle of original horizontality
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The Principle of Original Horizontality states that layers of sediment are originally deposited horizontally under the action of gravity. It is a dating technique. The principle is important to the analysis of folded and tilted strata and it was first proposed by the Danish geological pioneer Nicholas Steno. As one of Stenos Laws, the Principle of Original Horizontality served well in the nascent days of geological science, however, it is now known that not all sedimentary layers are deposited purely horizontally. This is known as the angle of repose, and an example is the surface of sand dunes. Similarly, sediments may drape over an inclined surface, these sediments are usually deposited conformably to the pre-existing surface. Also sedimentary beds may pinch out along strike, implying that slight angles existed during their deposition, thus the Principle of Original Horizontality is widely, but not universally, applicable in the study of sedimentology, stratigraphy and structural geology. Law of superposition Principle of lateral continuity Principle of cross-cutting relationships Principle of faunal succession
12.
Principle of lateral continuity
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The principle of lateral continuity states that layers of sediment initially extend laterally in all directions, in other words, they are laterally continuous. As a result, rocks that are similar, but are now separated by a valley or other erosional feature. Layers of sediment do not extend indefinitely, rather, the limits can be recognized and are controlled by the amount and type of sediment available, as long as sediment is transported to an area, it will eventually be deposited. However, as the amount of material away from the source. Often, coarser-grained material can no longer be transported to an area because the medium has insufficient energy to carry it to that location. In its place, the particles that settle from the medium will be finer-grained. The lateral variation in sediment within a stratum is known as sedimentary facies, if sufficient sedimentary material is available, it will be deposited up to the limits of the sedimentary basin. Often, the basin is within rocks that are very different from the sediments that are being deposited. In those cases, the limits of the sedimentary layer will be marked by an abrupt change in rock type
13.
Erosion
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In earth science, erosion is the action of surface processes that remove soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earths crust, then transport it away to another location. Eroded sediment or solutes may be transported just a few millimetres, the rates at which such processes act control how fast a surface is eroded. Feedbacks are also possible between rates of erosion and the amount of eroded material that is carried by, for example. Processes of erosion that produce sediment or solutes from a place contrast with those of deposition, while erosion is a natural process, human activities have increased by 10-40 times the rate at which erosion is occurring globally. At well-known agriculture sites such as the Appalachian Mountains, intensive farming practices have caused erosion up to 100x the speed of the rate of erosion in the region. Excessive erosion causes both on-site and off-site problems, on-site impacts include decreases in agricultural productivity and ecological collapse, both because of loss of the nutrient-rich upper soil layers. In some cases, the end result is desertification. Off-site effects include sedimentation of waterways and eutrophication of bodies, as well as sediment-related damage to roads. Intensive agriculture, deforestation, roads, anthropogenic climate change and urban sprawl are amongst the most significant human activities in regard to their effect on stimulating erosion, however, there are many prevention and remediation practices that can curtail or limit erosion of vulnerable soils. Rainfall, and the surface runoff which may result from rainfall, produces four types of soil erosion, splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion. Splash erosion is generally seen as the first and least severe stage in the erosion process. In splash erosion, the impact of a falling raindrop creates a crater in the soil. The distance these soil particles travel can be as much as 0.6 m vertically and 1.5 m horizontally on level ground. If the soil is saturated, or if the rate is greater than the rate at which water can infiltrate into the soil. If the runoff has sufficient flow energy, it will transport loosened soil particles down the slope, sheet erosion is the transport of loosened soil particles by overland flow. Rill erosion refers to the development of small, ephemeral concentrated flow paths which function as both sediment source and sediment delivery systems for erosion on hillslopes, generally, where water erosion rates on disturbed upland areas are greatest, rills are active. Flow depths in rills are typically of the order of a few centimetres or less and this means that rills exhibit hydraulic physics very different from water flowing through the deeper, wider channels of streams and rivers. Gully erosion occurs when water accumulates and rapidly flows in narrow channels during or immediately after heavy rains or melting snow
14.
Phase (archaeology)
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In archaeology, a phase 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 land surface or occupation level. A simplified description of phase would be that a phase is a view of a given Archaeological site as it would have been at time X, subsequent or earlier phases are representations in changing occupation patterns and land use over time. Phase is an important concept in Archeological excavation and post excavation work. Phasing is achieved by compiling smaller groups of contexts together through the use of stratification, the terminology of these sub units or collections of contexts varies depending on practitioner but the terms interface, sub-group, group, and feature are common. Phasing a site has a different meaning to digging in phase. Digging a site in phase is considered good practice and can be thought of as the process of removing the deposits on site in the order they arrived. Phasing is achieved on site by many methods including intuition and experience, Phase is sometimes termed differently depending on practitioner, examples include the term period but in the main phase is universal. Sometimes the term focus or component is used for such a grouping of stratigraphy. An example of use of Phase would be all the contexts between two horizons may represent the entirety of all Saxon occupation on a given site and could be termed as the Saxon phase of the site. Note however this block of stratigraphy may have many phases within it as defined by the rigorous definition of phase. Archaeological context Archaeological association Relationship Cut Archaeological section Feature Harris matrix Archaeological section Fill Excavation Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy,40 figs.1 pl.136 pp. London & New York, Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-326650-5 A quick Guide to Preliminary Phasing
15.
Relative dating
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Relative dating is the science of determining the relative order of past events, without necessarily determining their absolute age. In geology, rock or superficial deposits, fossils and lithologies can be used to correlate one stratigraphic column with another. Prior to the discovery of radiometric dating which provided a means of dating in the early 20th century. Though relative dating can determine the sequential order in which a series of events occurred, not when they occur. Relative dating by biostratigraphy is the method in paleontology, and is in some respects more accurate. The regular order of occurrence of fossils in rock layers was discovered around 1800 by William Smith, while digging the Somerset Coal Canal in southwest England, he found that fossils were always in the same order in the rock layers. As he continued his job as a surveyor, he found the same patterns across England and he also found that certain animals were in only certain layers and that they were in the same layers all across England. Due to that discovery, Smith was able to recognize the order that the rocks were formed, sixteen years after his discovery, he published a geological map of England showing the rocks of different geologic time eras. Methods for relative dating were developed when geology first emerged as a formal science, geologists still use the following principles today as a means to provide information about geologic history and the timing of geologic events. The principle of Uniformitarianism states that the processes observed in operation that modify the Earths crust at present have worked in much the same way over geologic time. A fundamental principle of geology advanced by the 18th century Scottish physician, in Huttons words, the past history of our globe must be explained by what can be seen to be happening now. The principle of intrusive relationships concerns crosscutting intrusions, in geology, when an igneous intrusion cuts across a formation of sedimentary rock, it can be determined that the igneous intrusion is younger than the sedimentary rock. There are a number of different types of intrusions, including stocks, laccoliths, batholiths, sills, the principle of cross-cutting relationships pertains to the formation of faults and the age of the sequences through which they cut. Finding the key bed in these situations may help determine whether the fault is a fault or a thrust fault. The principle of inclusions and components states that, with rocks, if inclusions are found in a formation. For example, in rocks, it is common for gravel from an older formation to be ripped up. A similar situation with igneous rocks occurs when xenoliths are found and these foreign bodies are picked up as magma or lava flows, and are incorporated, later to cool in the matrix. As a result, xenoliths are older than the rock which contains them, the principle of original horizontality states that the deposition of sediments occurs as essentially horizontal beds
16.
Section (archaeology)
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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, half-sectioning is the usual method whereby one half of a feature is excavated and the remainder left in situ. Large linear features may be sectioned at intervals along their lengths, sectioning has fallen out of favour in some schools of practice because detail is often missed in section that is important to the phasing of the site. Examples of detail that is revealed poorly in section include gravel or thin cobbled surfaces, the main problem with sections is the arbitrary location of their placement may clip or just miss contexts that reveal a different story form the one interpreted by the archaeologist. Numerous other false readings of sections are possible to the unwary, sections are used in conjunction with two-dimensional excavation by plan to determine the origin of archaeological remains. If the section is instructive a photographic record may also be made and it is up to the archaeologist on site to determine the best local on site strategy for excavating deposits, be it in section or in plan. In this regard the modern archaeologist uses sectioning as a tool for understanding the site stratigraphically during excavation rather than as an end goal in recording it and these caveats aside sections remain a powerful tool for archaeological investigation. A revival of digging in section with machines has occurred in recent years by a proliferation of limited time constrained development led excavations. The quadrants are slightly offset, so that the outer balk of one is continuous with the face of its opposite. After the recording of the sections, the balks may be removed, the advantage of quarter sectioning is it allows a look at two complete cross-sections while still allowing excavation in plan thus allowing a better interpretation of the stratigraphy of the site. The merits of this sectioning and balk creation are disputed
17.
Single context recording
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Single context recording was initially developed by Ed Harris and Patrick Ottaway in 1976, from a suggestion by Lawrence Keene. It has become a 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. Each excavated context is given a unique number and is recorded by type on a context sheet. Depending on time constraints and importance contexts may also be photographed, finds from each context are bagged and labelled with their context number and site code for later cross reference work carried out post excavation. 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, heights are recorded with a dumpy level or total station by relation to the site temporary benchmark. Samples of deposits from contexts are sometimes taken, for later environmental analysis or for scientific dating. Contexts being excavated are recorded on context sheets which vary in style depending on practitioner, most will have sections for composition of soils or profiles for cuts. A plan is made that conforms to grid squares. Single context recording of a stratigraphically excavated sequence evolves into an overlay of planned contexts that build a Harris matrix during excavation and this is demonstrated in the gallery below of a hypothetical and abstract 5 step sequence of contexts. The excavation starts with the planning and removal of a deposit in step 1, note how only the stratigraphic relationships build into the matrix as the excavation progresses rather than all the physical relationships. In reality the process is complex and involves many more contexts for the series of features shown in the diagram. This is because the contexts representing the fills have been omitted for simplicity, furthermore, single context recording is not an excuse for not attempting to view the site as a whole during excavation
18.
Relationship (archaeology)
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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, the key to this is stratigraphy. Archaeological material would, to a large extent, have been called rubbish when it was left on the site. It tends to accumulate in events, a gardener swept a pile of soil into a corner, laid a gravel path or planted a bush in a hole. A builder built a wall and back-filled the trench, years later, someone built a pig sty onto it and drained the pig sty into the nettle patch. Later still, the original wall blew over and so on, each event, which may have taken a short or long time to accomplish, leaves a context, a deposit of material, on the site. This deposit and its relationship to earlier contexts may show up in section or in plan when viewed from above, when there are hundreds of these relationships, a formal method of keeping track of them is required. An effective method is to prepare a Harris matrix and their position in the matrix places the contexts in their sequence in time. Provided the archaeologist has maintained a record of the context in which each artefact was found, the tracing of the contexts by the matrix does equally well for the artefacts. Terminology in archaeology is not definitive but the following are typical uses of terms, Cuts, for example a ditch cut, cuts all the contexts that made up the ground the ditch was dug into. Reciprocally, a context may be said to be cut by another, overlies, A context is said to overlie another when the overlying context is later in time and makes physical contact with the earlier context. Above, A context is said to be above another if created later and, in general, vertically above the other context, the description holds even when they are not aligned vertically, if one and the same intervening context lies both below the higher and above the lower. Below, A context is said to be below another context if it was created earlier and in general is vertically below the other context but not necessarily in physical contact. The description holds even when they are not aligned vertically, if one, butts, A context butts up to or abuts another context when it was created later and contacts the other but in general does not have a vertical physical relationship above. An example would be a clay floor laid up to the face of an already existing wall. A context may be different but formed in the sequence at the same time, an example of this would be a body in a coffin was already in the coffin when the two where fixed in the sequence. Arguments concerning that the skeleton went into the coffin afterwards are based on knowledge of what constituted the formation of the sequence offsite, is the body created at death or birth. Anomalies like this show up the limitations of the sequencing of human made deposits Same as
19.
Seriation (archaeology)
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In archaeology, seriation is a relative dating method in which assemblages or artifacts from numerous sites, in the same culture, are placed in chronological order. Where absolute dating methods, such as dating, cannot be applied, archaeologists have to use relative dating methods to date archaeological finds. Seriation is a method of dating in archaeology. It can be used to stone tools, pottery fragments. In Europe, it has been used frequently to reconstruct the sequence of graves in a cemetery. Two different variants of seriation have been applied, contextual seriation, whereas contextual seriation is based on the presence or absence of a design style, frequency seriation relies on measuring the proportional abundance or frequency of a design style. Contextual seriation is often used for reconstructing the sequence of graves as only the presence or absence of a design style or type is important. Frequency seriation is applied in case of large quantities of objects belonging to the same style, an example are assemblages of pottery sherds each including roughly the same range of types though in different proportions. Flinders Petrie excavated at Diospolis Parva in Egypt in the nineteenth century. He found that the graves he was uncovering contained no evidence of their dates, Petrie listed the contents of each grave on a strip of cardboard and swapped the papers around until he arrived at a sequence he was satisfied with. He reasoned that the most accurate sequence would be the one where concentrations of certain design styles had the shortest duration across the sequence of papers ). Whereas Petrie is considered the inventor of contextual seriation, Brainerd and it also assumes that design popularity will be broadly similar from site to site within the same culture. In addition, it is vital that the lifespans of the different design styles overlap, following these rules, an assemblage of objects can be placed into sequence so that sites with the most similar proportions of certain styles are always together. The task of identifying design styles i. e. to form groups of objects belonging to the design style is by no means trivial. Creating a typology frequently is the basis of a seriation, some design styles were used for a very long time as the shape constructed was handy and no improvement or ornament was added. Of course, these styles are not eligible for chronological seriation. For example, knives in early times in Europe are said to show no chronological variation. In addition to temporal organization, seriation results may reflect differences in social status, age
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
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Chronology
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Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events and it is also the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events. It is also part of the discipline of history, including history, the earth sciences. Chronology is the science of locating historical events in time and it relies upon chronometry, which is also known as timekeeping, and historiography, which examines the writing of history and the use of historical methods. Radiocarbon dating estimates the age of living things by measuring the proportion of carbon-14 isotope in their carbon content. Dendrochronology is used in turn as a reference for radiocarbon dating curves. The familiar terms calendar and era concern two complementary concepts of chronology. Dionysius Exiguus was the founder of that era, which is nowadays the most widespread dating system on earth, an epoch is the date when an era begins. Ab Urbe condita is Latin for from the founding of the City and it was used to identify the Roman year by a few Roman historians. Modern historians use it more frequently than the Romans themselves did. Before the advent of the critical edition of historical Roman works, AUC was indiscriminately added to them by earlier editors. It was used systematically for the first time only about the year 400, pope Boniface IV, in about the year 600, seems to have been the first who made a connection between these this era and Anno Domini. Dionysius Exiguus’ Anno Domini era was extended by Bede to the complete Christian era, while of critical importance to the historian, methods of determining chronology are used in most disciplines of science, especially astronomy, geology, paleontology and archaeology. In the absence of written history, with its chronicles and king lists and this method of dating is known as seriation. Known wares discovered at strata in sometimes quite distant sites, the product of trade, laboratory techniques developed particularly after mid-20th century helped constantly revise and refine the chronologies developed for specific cultural areas. Unrelated dating methods help reinforce a chronology, an axiom of corroborative evidence, ideally, archaeological materials used for dating a site should complement each other and provide a means of cross-checking. Conclusions drawn from just one unsupported technique are usually regarded as unreliable, the fundamental problem of chronology is to synchronize events. By synchronizing an event it becomes possible to relate it to the current time, among historians, a typical need to is to synchronize the reigns of kings and leaders in order to relate the history of one country or region to that of another
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Astronomy
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Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It applies mathematics, physics, and chemistry, in an effort to explain the origin of those objects and phenomena and their evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, galaxies, and comets, while the phenomena include supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, more generally, all astronomical phenomena that originate outside Earths atmosphere are within the purview of astronomy. A related but distinct subject, physical cosmology, is concerned with the study of the Universe as a whole, Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history, such as the Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Egyptians, Nubians, Iranians, Chinese, during the 20th century, the field of professional astronomy split into observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring data from observations of astronomical objects, theoretical astronomy is oriented toward the development of computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena. The two fields complement each other, with theoretical astronomy seeking to explain the results and observations being used to confirm theoretical results. Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can play an active role, especially in the discovery. Amateur astronomers have made and contributed to many important astronomical discoveries, Astronomy means law of the stars. Astronomy should not be confused with astrology, the system which claims that human affairs are correlated with the positions of celestial objects. Although the two share a common origin, they are now entirely distinct. Generally, either the term astronomy or astrophysics may be used to refer to this subject, however, since most modern astronomical research deals with subjects related to physics, modern astronomy could actually be called astrophysics. Few fields, such as astrometry, are purely astronomy rather than also astrophysics, some titles of the leading scientific journals in this field includeThe Astronomical Journal, The Astrophysical Journal and Astronomy and Astrophysics. In early times, astronomy only comprised the observation and predictions of the motions of objects visible to the naked eye, in some locations, early cultures assembled massive artifacts that possibly had some astronomical purpose. Before tools such as the telescope were invented, early study of the stars was conducted using the naked eye, most of early astronomy actually consisted of mapping the positions of the stars and planets, a science now referred to as astrometry. From these observations, early ideas about the motions of the planets were formed, and the nature of the Sun, Moon, the Earth was believed to be the center of the Universe with the Sun, the Moon and the stars rotating around it. This is known as the model of the Universe, or the Ptolemaic system. The Babylonians discovered that lunar eclipses recurred in a cycle known as a saros
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Geology
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Geology is an earth science concerned with the solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Geology can also refer generally to the study of the features of any terrestrial planet. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth by providing the evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life. Geology also plays a role in engineering and is a major academic discipline. The majority of data comes from research on solid Earth materials. These typically fall into one of two categories, rock and unconsolidated material, the majority of research in geology is associated with the study of rock, as rock provides the primary record of the majority of the geologic history of the Earth. There are three types of rock, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The rock cycle is an important concept in geology which illustrates the relationships between three types of rock, and magma. When a rock crystallizes from melt, it is an igneous rock, the sedimentary rock can then be subsequently turned into a metamorphic rock due to heat and pressure and is then weathered, eroded, deposited, and lithified, ultimately becoming a sedimentary rock. Sedimentary rock may also be re-eroded and redeposited, and metamorphic rock may also undergo additional metamorphism, all three types of rocks may be re-melted, when this happens, a new magma is formed, from which an igneous rock may once again crystallize. Geologists also study unlithified material which typically comes from more recent deposits and these materials are superficial deposits which lie above the bedrock. Because of this, the study of material is often known as Quaternary geology. This includes the study of sediment and soils, including studies in geomorphology, sedimentology and this theory is supported by several types of observations, including seafloor spreading, and the global distribution of mountain terrain and seismicity. This coupling between rigid plates moving on the surface of the Earth and the mantle is called plate tectonics. The development of plate tectonics provided a basis for many observations of the solid Earth. Long linear regions of geologic features could be explained as plate boundaries, mid-ocean ridges, high regions on the seafloor where hydrothermal vents and volcanoes exist, were explained as divergent boundaries, where two plates move apart. Arcs of volcanoes and earthquakes were explained as convergent boundaries, where one plate subducts under another, transform boundaries, such as the San Andreas Fault system, resulted in widespread powerful earthquakes. Plate tectonics also provided a mechanism for Alfred Wegeners theory of continental drift and they also provided a driving force for crustal deformation, and a new setting for the observations of structural geology
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History
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History is the study of the past as it is described in written documents. Events occurring before written record are considered prehistory and it is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of information about these events. Scholars who write about history are called historians and their works continue to be read today, and the gap between the culture-focused Herodotus and the military-focused Thucydides remains a point of contention or approach in modern historical writing. In Asia, a chronicle, the Spring and Autumn Annals was known to be compiled from as early as 722 BC although only 2nd-century BC texts survived. Ancient influences have helped spawn variant interpretations of the nature of history which have evolved over the centuries, the modern study of history is wide-ranging, and includes the study of specific regions and the study of certain topical or thematical elements of historical investigation. Often history is taught as part of primary and secondary education, the word history comes ultimately from Ancient Greek ἱστορία, meaning inquiry, knowledge from inquiry, or judge. It was in that sense that Aristotle used the word in his Περὶ Τὰ Ζῷα Ἱστορίαι, the ancestor word ἵστωρ is attested early on in Homeric Hymns, Heraclitus, the Athenian ephebes oath, and in Boiotic inscriptions. History was borrowed from Latin into Old English as stær, and it was from Anglo-Norman that history was borrowed into Middle English, and this time the loan stuck. In Middle English, the meaning of history was story in general, the restriction to the meaning the branch of knowledge that deals with past events, the formal record or study of past events, esp. human affairs arose in the mid-fifteenth century. With the Renaissance, older senses of the word were revived, and it was in the Greek sense that Francis Bacon used the term in the sixteenth century. For him, historia was the knowledge of objects determined by space and time, in an expression of the linguistic synthetic vs. analytic/isolating dichotomy, English like Chinese now designates separate words for human history and storytelling in general. In modern German, French, and most Germanic and Romance languages, which are synthetic and highly inflected. The adjective historical is attested from 1661, and historic from 1669, Historian in the sense of a researcher of history is attested from 1531. Historians write in the context of their own time, and with due regard to the current dominant ideas of how to interpret the past, in the words of Benedetto Croce, All history is contemporary history. History is facilitated by the formation of a discourse of past through the production of narrative. The modern discipline of history is dedicated to the production of this discourse. All events that are remembered and preserved in some authentic form constitute the historical record, the task of historical discourse is to identify the sources which can most usefully contribute to the production of accurate accounts of past. Therefore, the constitution of the archive is a result of circumscribing a more general archive by invalidating the usage of certain texts and documents
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Paleontology
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Paleontology or palaeontology is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene Epoch. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms evolution and interactions with each other, paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BC. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuviers work on comparative anatomy, and developed rapidly in the 19th century. The term itself originates from Greek παλαιός, palaios, i. e. old, ancient, ὄν, on, i. e. being, creature and λόγος, logos, i. e. speech, thought, study. Paleontology lies on the border between biology and geology, but differs from archaeology in that it excludes the study of modern humans. It now uses techniques drawn from a range of sciences, including biochemistry, mathematics. The final quarter of the 20th century saw the development of molecular phylogenetics, molecular phylogenetics has also been used to estimate the dates when species diverged, but there is controversy about the reliability of the molecular clock on which such estimates depend. The simplest definition is the study of ancient life, paleontology is one of the historical sciences, along with archaeology, geology, astronomy, cosmology, philology and history itself. This means that it aims to describe phenomena of the past, hence it has three main elements, description of the phenomena, developing a general theory about the causes of various types of change, and applying those theories to specific facts. Sometimes the smoking gun is discovered by an accident during other research. Paleontology lies on the boundary between biology and geology since paleontology focuses on the record of past life but its source of evidence is fossils. In addition paleontology often uses techniques derived from other sciences, including biology, osteology, ecology, chemistry, techniques developed in engineering have been used to analyse how ancient organisms might have worked, for example how fast Tyrannosaurus could move and how powerful its bite was. As knowledge has increased, paleontology has developed specialised subdivisions, vertebrate paleontology concentrates on fossils of vertebrates, from the earliest fish to the immediate ancestors of modern mammals. Invertebrate paleontology deals with fossils of such as molluscs, arthropods. Paleobotany focuses on the study of plants, but traditionally includes the study of fossil algae. Palynology, the study of pollen and spores produced by plants and protists. Micropaleontology deals with all microscopic fossil organisms, regardless of the group to which they belong, one example is the development of oxygenic photosynthesis by bacteria, which hugely increased the productivity and diversity of ecosystems. This also caused the oxygenation of the atmosphere, together, these were a prerequisite for the evolution of the most complex eukaryotic cells, from which all multicellular organisms are built
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Time
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Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future. Time is often referred to as the dimension, along with the three spatial dimensions. Time has long been an important subject of study in religion, philosophy, and science, nevertheless, diverse fields such as business, industry, sports, the sciences, and the performing arts all incorporate some notion of time into their respective measuring systems. Two contrasting viewpoints on time divide prominent philosophers, one view is that time is part of the fundamental structure of the universe—a dimension independent of events, in which events occur in sequence. Isaac Newton subscribed to this realist view, and hence it is referred to as Newtonian time. This second view, in the tradition of Gottfried Leibniz and Immanuel Kant, holds that time is neither an event nor a thing, Time in physics is unambiguously operationally defined as what a clock reads. Time is one of the seven fundamental physical quantities in both the International System of Units and International System of Quantities, Time is used to define other quantities—such as velocity—so defining time in terms of such quantities would result in circularity of definition. The operational definition leaves aside the question there is something called time, apart from the counting activity just mentioned, that flows. Investigations of a single continuum called spacetime bring questions about space into questions about time, questions that have their roots in the works of early students of natural philosophy. Furthermore, it may be there is a subjective component to time. Temporal measurement has occupied scientists and technologists, and was a motivation in navigation. Periodic events and periodic motion have long served as standards for units of time, examples include the apparent motion of the sun across the sky, the phases of the moon, the swing of a pendulum, and the beat of a heart. Currently, the unit of time, the second, is defined by measuring the electronic transition frequency of caesium atoms. Time is also of significant social importance, having economic value as well as value, due to an awareness of the limited time in each day. In day-to-day life, the clock is consulted for periods less than a day whereas the calendar is consulted for periods longer than a day, increasingly, personal electronic devices display both calendars and clocks simultaneously. The number that marks the occurrence of an event as to hour or date is obtained by counting from a fiducial epoch—a central reference point. Artifacts from the Paleolithic suggest that the moon was used to time as early as 6,000 years ago. Lunar calendars were among the first to appear, either 12 or 13 lunar months, without intercalation to add days or months to some years, seasons quickly drift in a calendar based solely on twelve lunar months
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Ab urbe condita
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Ab urbe condita is a Latin phrase meaning from the founding of the City, traditionally dated to 753 BC. AUC is a system used by some ancient Roman historians to identify particular Roman years. Renaissance editors sometimes added AUC to Roman manuscripts they published, giving the impression that the Romans usually numbered their years using the AUC system. The dominant method of identifying Roman years in Roman times was to name the two consuls who held office that year, the regnal year of the emperor was also used to identify years, especially in the Byzantine Empire after 537 when Justinian required its use. The traditional date for the founding of Rome of 21 April 753 BC, was initiated by 1st century BC scholar Marcus Terentius Varro, the correctness of Varros calculation has not been confirmed but it is still used worldwide. From Emperor Claudius onwards, Varros calculation superseded other contemporary calculations, celebrating the anniversary of the city became part of imperial propaganda. Claudius was the first to hold magnificent celebrations in honour of the citys anniversary, hadrian and Antoninus Pius held similar celebrations, in 121 AD and 147/148 AD respectively. During 248 AD, Philip the Arab celebrated Romes first millennium, coins from his reign commemorate the celebrations. The Anno Domini year numbering was developed by a monk named Dionysius Exiguus in Rome during 525, in his Easter table the year 532 AD was equated with the regnal year 248 of Emperor Diocletian. It was later calculated that the year 1 AD corresponds to the Roman year 754 AUC, based on Varros epoch
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Anno Domini
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The terms anno Domini and before Christ are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means in the year of the Lord, There is no year zero in this scheme, so the year AD1 immediately follows the year 1 BC. This dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus of Scythia Minor, the Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. Traditionally, English followed Latin usage by placing the AD abbreviation before the year number, however, BC is placed after the year number, which also preserves syntactic order. The abbreviation is widely used after the number of a century or millennium. Because BC is the English abbreviation for Before Christ, it is sometimes concluded that AD means After Death. However, this would mean that the approximate 33 years commonly associated with the life of Jesus would not be included in either of the BC, astronomical year numbering and ISO8601 avoid words or abbreviations related to Christianity, but use the same numbers for AD years. The Anno Domini dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus to enumerate the years in his Easter table. His system was to replace the Diocletian era that had used in an old Easter table because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians. The last year of the old table, Diocletian 247, was followed by the first year of his table. Thus Dionysius implied that Jesus Incarnation occurred 525 years earlier, without stating the year during which his birth or conception occurred. Blackburn & Holford-Strevens briefly present arguments for 2 BC,1 BC, There were inaccuracies in the list of consuls There were confused summations of emperors regnal years It is not known how Dionysius established the year of Jesuss birth. It is convenient to initiate a calendar not from the day of an event. For example, the Islamic calendar begins not from the date of the Hegira, at the time, it was believed by some that the Resurrection and end of the world would occur 500 years after the birth of Jesus. The old Anno Mundi calendar theoretically commenced with the creation of the based on information in the Old Testament. It was believed that, based on the Anno Mundi calendar, Anno Mundi 6000 was thus equated with the resurrection and the end of the world but this date had already passed in the time of Dionysius. The Anglo-Saxon historian the Venerable Bede, who was familiar with the work of Dionysius Exiguus, used Anno Domini dating in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731. e. On the continent of Europe, Anno Domini was introduced as the era of choice of the Carolingian Renaissance by the English cleric and scholar Alcuin in the late eighth century
29.
Common Era
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Common Era or Current Era is a year-numbering system for the Julian and Gregorian calendars that refers to the years since the start of this era, i. e. since AD1. The preceding era is referred to as before the Common or Current Era, the Current Era notation system can be used as a secular alternative to the Dionysian era system, which distinguishes eras as AD and BC. The two notation systems are equivalent, thus 2017 CE corresponds to AD2017 and 400 BCE corresponds to 400 BC. The year-numbering system for the Gregorian calendar is the most widespread civil calendar used in the world today. For decades, it has been the standard, recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations. The expression has been traced back to Latin usage to 1615, as vulgaris aerae, the term Common Era can be found in English as early as 1708, and became more widely used in the mid-19th century by Jewish academics. He attempted to number years from a reference date, an event he referred to as the Incarnation of Jesus. Dionysius labeled the column of the table in which he introduced the new era as Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, numbering years in this manner became more widespread in Europe with its usage by Bede in England in 731. Bede also introduced the practice of dating years before what he supposed was the year of birth of Jesus, in 1422, Portugal became the last Western European country to switch to the system begun by Dionysius. The first use of the Latin term vulgaris aerae discovered so far was in a 1615 book by Johannes Kepler, Kepler uses it again in a 1616 table of ephemerides, and again in 1617. A1635 English edition of that book has the title page in English – so far, a 1701 book edited by John LeClerc includes Before Christ according to the Vulgar Æra,6. A1716 book in English by Dean Humphrey Prideaux says, before the beginning of the vulgar æra, a 1796 book uses the term vulgar era of the nativity. The first so-far-discovered usage of Christian Era is as the Latin phrase aerae christianae on the page of a 1584 theology book. In 1649, the Latin phrase æræ Christianæ appeared in the title of an English almanac, a 1652 ephemeris is the first instance so-far-found for English usage of Christian Era. The English phrase common Era appears at least as early as 1708, a 1759 history book uses common æra in a generic sense, to refer to the common era of the Jews. The first-so-far found usage of the phrase before the era is in a 1770 work that also uses common era and vulgar era as synonyms. The 1797 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica uses the terms vulgar era, the Catholic Encyclopedia in at least one article reports all three terms being commonly understood by the early 20th century. Thus, the era of the Jews, the common era of the Mahometans, common era of the world
30.
Anno Mundi
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Anno Mundi, abbreviated as AM or A. M. or Year After Creation, is a calendar era based on the biblical accounts of the creation of the world and subsequent history. That calendar is similar to the Julian calendar except that its epoch is equivalent to 1 September 5509 BC on the Julian proleptic calendar, the Hebrew calendar is based on rabbinic calculations of the year of creation from the Hebrew Masoretic text of the bible. This calendar is used within Jewish communities for religious and other purposes, on the Hebrew calendar, the day begins at sunset. The calendars epoch, corresponding to the date of the worlds creation, is equivalent to sunset on the Julian proleptic calendar date 6 October 3761 BC. The new year begins at Rosh Hashanah, roughly in September, Year anno mundi 5777, or AM5777, began at sunset on 2 October 2016 on the Gregorian calendar. While differences in biblical interpretation or in calculation methodology can produce differences in the creation date. The primary reason for the disparity seems to lie in which underlying Biblical text is chosen, most of the 1, 732-year difference resides in numerical discrepancies in the genealogies of the two versions of the Book of Genesis. The net difference between the two genealogies of Genesis is 1466 years, 85% of the total difference. During the Talmudic era, from the 1st to the 10th centuries AD, jews in these regions used Seleucid Era dating as the primary method for calculating the calendar year. Why not say that it is reckoned from the Exodus from Egypt, omitting the first thousand years, in that case, the document is really post-dated. Said Rav Nahman, In the Diaspora the Greek Era alone is used and he thought that Rav Nahman wanted to dispose of him anyhow, but when he went and studied it thoroughly he found that it is indeed taught, In the Diaspora the Greek Era alone is used. By his calculation, based on the Masoretic Text, Adam and Eve were created on 1st of Tishrei in 3760 BC, in the 8th and 9th centuries AD, the center of Jewish life moved from Babylonia to Europe, so calculations from the Seleucid era became meaningless. From the 11th century, anno mundi dating became dominant throughout most of the worlds Jewish communities, the new system reached its definitive form in AD1178 when Maimonides completed the Mishneh Torah. In the section Sanctification of the Moon, he wrote of his choice of Epoch, from which calculations of all dates should be made, which is the year 4938 of the creation of the world. He included all the rules for the calculated calendar epoch and their basis, including the modern epochal year in his work. The first year of the Jewish calendar, Anno Mundi 1, began one year before Creation. The first five days of Jewish Creation week occupy the last five days of AM1, the sixth day of Creation, when Adam and Eve were created, is the first day of AM2, Rosh Hashanah. Its associated molad Adam occurred on Day 5 at 14 hours and this is also called molad BaHaRaD, because it occurred on Day 2,5 hours,204 parts
31.
Byzantine calendar
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The Byzantine calendar, also called Creation Era of Constantinople or Era of the World, was the calendar used by the Eastern Orthodox Church from c.691 to 1728 in the Ecumenical Patriarchate. It was also the official calendar of the Byzantine Empire from 988 to 1453, the calendar was based on the Julian calendar, except that the year started on 1 September and the year number used an Anno Mundi epoch derived from the Septuagint version of the Bible. Its year one, the date of creation, was September 1,5509 BC. It is not known who invented the World era and when, nevertheless, the first appearance of the term is in the treatise of a certain monk and priest, Georgios, who mentions all the main variants of the World Era in his work. He also already regards it as the most convenient for the Easter computus and this date underwent minor revisions before being finalized in the mid-7th century, although its precursors were developed c. By the second half of the 7th century, the Creation Era was known in Western Europe, by the late 10th century around AD988, when the era appears in use on official government records, a unified system was widely recognized across the Eastern Roman world. The era was ultimately calculated as starting on September 1, Thus historical time was calculated from the creation, and not from Christs birth, as in the west. The Eastern Church avoided the use of the Anno Domini system of Dionysius Exiguus, meanwhile, as Russia received Orthodox Christianity from Byzantium, she inherited the Orthodox Calendar based on the Byzantine Era. After the collapse of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the era continued to be used by Russia and it was only in AD1700 that the Byzantine World Era in Russia was changed to the Julian Calendar by Peter the Great. It still forms the basis of traditional Orthodox calendars up to today, September AD2000 began the year 7509 AM. Both of these early Christian writers, following the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, the Alexandrian Era developed in AD412, was the precursor to the Byzantine Era. After the initial attempts by Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria and others, the Alexandrine monk Panodorus reckoned 5904 years from Adam to the year AD412. This created the Alexandrian Era, whose first day was the first day of the proleptic Alexandrian civil year in progress,29 August 5493 BC, with the ecclesiastical year beginning on 25 March 5493 BC. This system presents in a sort of way the mystical coincidence of the three main dates of the worlds history, the beginning of Creation, the Incarnation. It was the first day of the year in the medieval Julian calendar, the Alexandrian Era of March 25,5493 BC was adopted by church fathers such as Maximus the Confessor and Theophanes the Confessor, as well as chroniclers such as George Syncellus. Its striking mysticism made it popular in Byzantium especially in monastic circles and it had for its basis a chronological list of events extending from the creation of Adam to the year AD627. The chronology of the writer is based on the figures of the Bible, St. John Chrysostom says in his Homily On the Cross and the Thief, that Christ, opened for us today Paradise, which had remained closed for some 5000 years. St. Isaac the Syrian writes in a Homily that before Christ, for five thousand five hundred
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Islamic calendar
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The Islamic, Muslim, or Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries and it is also used by Muslims to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the annual period of fasting and the proper time for the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Islamic calendar employs the Hijri era whose epoch was retrospectively established as the Islamic New Year of AD622, during that year, Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib and established the first Muslim community, an event commemorated as the Hijra. In the West, dates in this era are usually denoted AH in parallel with the Christian, in Muslim countries, it is also sometimes denoted as H from its Arabic form. In English, years prior to the Hijra are reckoned as BH, the current Islamic year is 1438 AH. In the Gregorian calendar,1438 AH runs from approximately 3 October 2016 to 21 September 2017, four of the twelve Hijri months are considered sacred, Rajab, and the three consecutive months of Dhū al-Qa‘dah, Dhu al-Ḥijjah and Muḥarram. As the lunar calendar lags behind the solar calendar by about ten days every gregorian year, the cycle repeats every 33 lunar years. Each month of the Islamic calendar commences on the birth of the new lunar cycle, traditionally this is based on actual observation of the crescent marking the end of the previous lunar cycle and hence the previous month, thereby beginning the new month. Consequently, each month can have 29 or 30 days depending on the visibility of the moon, astronomical positioning of the earth and weather conditions. However, certain sects and groups, most notably Dawoodi Bohra Muslims and Shia Ismaili Muslims, use a tabular Islamic calendar in which odd-numbered months have thirty days, in Arabic, the first day of the week corresponds with Sunday of the planetary week. The Islamic weekdays, like those in the Hebrew and Baháí calendars, the Christian liturgical day, kept in monasteries, begins with vespers, which is evening, in line with the other Abrahamic traditions. Christian and planetary weekdays begin at the following midnight, Muslims gather for worship at a mosque at noon on gathering day which corresponds with Friday. Thus gathering day is regarded as the weekly day of rest. A few others have adopted the Saturday-Sunday weekend while making Friday a working day with a midday break to allow time off for worship. Inscriptions of the ancient South Arabian calendars reveal the use of a number of local calendars, at least some of these calendars followed the lunisolar system. For Central Arabia, especially Mecca, there is a lack of epigraphical evidence, both al-Biruni and al-Masudi suggest that the Ancient Arabs used the same month names as the Muslims, though they also record other month names used by the pre-Islamic Arabs. Nevertheless, the Islamic position equating Nisan with Dhū al-Ḥijja has prevailed, for a comparison between the Islamic and pre-Islamic months, see Islamic and Jahili months. The Islamic tradition is unanimous in stating that Arabs of Tihamah, Hejaz, the forbidden months were four months during which fighting is forbidden, listed as Rajab and the three months around the pilgrimage season, Dhu al-Qa‘dah, Dhu al-Hijjah, and Muharram
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Egyptian chronology
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The majority of Egyptologists agree on the outline and many details of the chronology of Ancient Egypt. Scholarly consensus on the outline of the conventional chronology current in Egyptology has not fluctuated much over the last 100 years. For the Old Kingdom, consensus fluctuates by as much as a few centuries and this is illustrated by comparing the chronology as given by two Egyptologists, the first writing in 1906, the second in 2000. The disparities between the two sets of result from additional discoveries and refined understanding of the still very incomplete source evidence. For example, Breasted adds a ruler in the Twentieth dynasty that further research showed did not exist, following Manetho, Breasted also believed all the dynasties were sequential, whereas it is now known that several existed at the same time. These revisions have resulted in a lowering of the chronology by up to 400 years at the beginning of Dynasty I. The backbone of Egyptian chronology are the years as recorded in Ancient Egyptian king lists. In addition, some Egyptian dynasties may have overlapped, with different pharaohs ruling in different regions at the same time, not knowing whether monarchies were simultaneous or sequential results in widely differing chronological interpretations. However, further research has shown that these censuses were taken in consecutive years. The sed festival was celebrated on the thirtieth anniversary of the Pharaohs ascension. However, once again, this may not be the practice in all cases. In the early days of Egyptology, the compilation of regnal periods may also have been hampered due to bias on the part of the Egyptologists. This was most pervasive before the mid 19th century, when Manethos figures were recognized as conflicting with biblical chronology based on Old Testament references to Egypt, in the 20th century, such biblical bias has mostly been confined to alternative chronologies outside of scholarly mainstream. A useful way to work around these gaps in knowledge is to find chronological synchronisms, over the past decades, a number of these have been found, although they are of varying degrees of usefulness and reliability. While this does not fix a person or event to a specific year, another example are blocks from the Old Kingdom bearing the names of several kings, which were reused in the construction of Middle Kingdom pyramid-temples at Lisht in the structures of Amenemhat I. The poor documentation of these finds in the Serapeum also compounds the difficulties in using these records. The best known of these is the Sothic cycle, and careful study of this led Richard A. Parker to argue that the dates of the Twelfth dynasty could be fixed with absolute precision. More recent research has eroded this confidence, questioning many of the assumptions used with the Sothic Cycle and this is useful especially for the Early Dynastic period, where Egyptological consensus has only been possible within a range of about three or four centuries
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Hindu units of time
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Vedic and Puranic texts describe units of Kala measurements, from Paramaṇu to Maha-Manvantara. According to these texts and other sources, such as the Pachipala family, the creation and destruction of the universe is a cyclic process. Each cycle starts with the birth and expansion of the Universe equaling 311.04 trillion years and this is currently 51st year of Brahma, and this is the year when the solar system was created according to Hindu astrology, and is the first maha yuga for humanity. The unit given as 311.04 trillion years may be calculated as 3.1104 trillion or 31.104 trillion years depending on which source, calculated by multiplying other time units, some texts accept some intermittent units where some do not figure these into the solution. However, the value of 33104 is constant and the real conflict is the exponential value. Various units of time are used across the Vedas, Puranas, a summary of the Hindu metrics of time follows. Sidereal time is a system that astronomers use to keep track of the direction to point their telescopes to view a given star in the night sky. A Tithi or lunar day is defined as the time it takes for the angle between the moon and the Sun to increase by 12°. Tithis begin at varying times of day and vary in duration from approximately 19 to approximately 26 hours, a Paksa or lunar fortnight consists of 15 tithes. 1 human month =1 day and night of the Pitṛs,30 days of the Pitṛs =1 month of the Pitṛs =. 12 months of the Pitṛs =1 year of the Pitṛs =.5 million years, statistically, we can also look it as,12000 Deva Years = Life Span of Devas =1 Mahā-Yuga. The charaṇas are divided as follows, The cycle repeats itself, thus a day of Brahma, Kalpa, is of duration,4.32 billion solar years. Two Kalpas constitute a day and night of Brahma, a Manvantara consists of 71 Mahā-Yuga. Each Manvantara is ruled by a Manu, after each Manvantara follows one Saṃdhi Kāla of the same duration as a Kṛta Yuga. A Kalpa consists of a period of 4.32 Billion solar years followed by 14 Manvataras, a day of Brahma equals + =994 Mahā-Yuga + =994 Mahā-Yuga + /6 =12,000 viz. one maha yuga. Currently,50 years of Brahma have elapsed, the last Kalpa at the end of 50th year is called Padma Kalpa. We are currently in the first day of the 51st year and this Brahmas day, Kalpa, is named as Shveta-Varaha Kalpa. Within this Day, six Manvantaras have already elapsed and this is the seventh Manvantara, within the Vaivasvatha Manvantara,27 Mahayugas, and the Krita, Treta and Dwapara Yugas of the 28th Mahayuga have elapsed
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Mesoamerican calendars
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Mesoamerican calendars are the calendrical systems devised and used by the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. Besides keeping time, Mesoamerican calendars were used in religious observances and social rituals. The existence of Mesoamerican calendars is known as early as ca.500 BCE, with the essentials already appearing fully defined and these calendars are still used today in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. Among the various systems in use, two were particularly central and widespread across Mesoamerica. Common to all recorded Mesoamerican cultures, and the most important, was the 260-day calendar, apparently the earliest Mesoamerican calendar to be developed, it was known by a variety of local terms, and its named components and the glyphs used to depict them were similarly culture-specific. However, it is clear that this calendar functioned in essentially the same way across cultures, the second of the major calendars was one representing a 365-day period approximating the tropical year, known sometimes as the vague year. Because it was an approximation, over time the seasons and the tropical year gradually wandered with respect to this calendar. There is little evidence to suggest that the ancient Mesoamericans used any intercalary days to bring their calendar back into alignment. However, there is evidence to show Mesoamericans were aware of this gradual shifting and these two 260- and 365-day calendars could also be synchronised to generate the Calendar Round, a period of 18980 days or approximately 52 years. The completion and observance of this Calendar Round sequence was of significance to a number of Mesoamerican cultures. Most commonly, five such cycles in a modified vigesimal count were used. The use of Mesoamerican calendrics is one of the traits that Paul Kirchoff used in his original formulation to define Mesoamerica as a culture area. Therefore, the use of Mesoamerican calendars is specific to Mesoamerica and is not found outside its boundaries, in the 260-day cycle 20 day names pairs with 13 day numbers, totalling a cycle of 260 days. This cycle was used for purposes to foretell lucky and unlucky days. The date of birth was used to give names to both humans and gods in many Mesoamerican cultures, some cultures used only the calendar name whereas others combined it with a given name. Each day sign was presided over by a god and many had associations with natural phenomena. The exact origin of the 260-day count is not known, one theory is that the calendar came from mathematical operations based on the numbers thirteen and twenty, which were important numbers to the Maya. The numbers multiplied together equal 260, another theory is that the 260-day period came from the length of human pregnancy
