What is the cultural layer?

The cultural layer is a part of the earth that contains the remains of human life. It can have different depth and thickness: from a few centimeters to tens of meters. His research is of fundamental importance for the development of the science of archeology, since it is here that scientists find traces of human habitation and occupation. As a rule, ancient structures, household objects of labor and household garbage are found in these strata.

Composition

The cultural layer consists of artifacts. Under the latter term, it is customary to consider everything that, one way or another, was treated by people. As a rule, here include tools, household utensils, body jewelry, clothes, spindle, arrowheads and many other items. Also, artifacts include secondary products that remain from the main production process. The latter category includes slag - a material that has been preserved after the smelting of metals, excess threads, discarded after making clothes or blunted stones that were used to create axes, saws and other tools. The cultural layer can contain even a whole production complex - a structure intended for large-scale production. For example, in the gray areas, abandoned log buildings are often found, where people once worked in metallurgy. In such areas, the remnants of a log house, stove, and some tools of labor are found.

Structures

The cultural layer often consists of large objects, the construction of which seriously destroys the soil layers of the earth. The most common and at the same time the simplest construction is an ordinary household pit. It is very easy to find and identify on a darker soil on the surface, since it is filled with the products of human life. Their study is extremely important, because such pits give an idea of several aspects of human life: about food, clothing, production, etc. In addition, the remains of the dwelling may contain a cultural layer. The definition of this concept implies that these layers can store both large and small structures. The remains of dwellings are found in the form of log houses, foundations, walls, foci. To the same category can include tunnels, palings, defensive shafts. The last category of construction sites is very well seen in archaeological surveys, as they are located on high ground.

Biological residues

The cultural layer of the earth is saturated with materials that once were part of the living nature, but due to certain circumstances, they fell into the sphere of human life. This category includes untreated bones, shells from snails, seeds and pollen of plants, leaves of trees, etc. There are four types of biological residues. The first group includes food waste: this is the food that remained after the people's nutrition, or what was used in the cooking process. For example, in the parking lot, archaeologists often find animal bones. The archaeological cultural layer consists of technical waste: substances of plant or animal origin that remain in the production process (for example, chips, straw, bone fragments, etc.). The third group includes ecofacts - biological residues that have come to the place of residence of people without their direct participation (pollen, seeds, plant remains, etc.). They are important in that they allow us to reconstruct the natural environment of human habitation. And, finally, the fourth group is the inorganic remains (natural deposits accumulated around the monument). The cultural layer in archeology can contain traces of human activity in the transformation of its habitat (for example, sandy padding to the fence).

Complex

Archaeological materials are in direct connection with each other and the aggregate creates the most complete picture of this or that period of human life. Under this concept, it is customary to mean the totality of things that could be made or manufactured in different periods, but they came to the settlement at one time and therefore remained almost untouched. Such a find is called a closed complex (coin treasure, funerary inventory). Excavations are crucial for the development of archeology. The cultural layer may have wider boundaries. Often archaeologists for the study of a whole period of time artificially expand the complex, drawing on the data of neighboring layers. In this case, it is customary to talk about an open complex.

Formation

The layer is added over a certain period of time. The first stage is the postponement of natural natural deposits: for example, the occurrence of deposits, continental strata. At the beginning of construction, certain residues of human life fall into the earth: building material, remnants of tools. Thus, the initial zone of the cultural layer is formed. For decades and centuries, the initial level is gradually buried by the already immediate waste of human existence in one or another locality. The earth is filled with remains of food, ceramics, remains of animals, clothes, etc. But the time comes when all buildings either collapse from time or die as a result of natural disasters, which leads to the formation of a new bedding - a layer of destruction.

Layer formation conditions

The more organic remains in the earth, the greater the risk of its rapid resolution, since this type of waste decomposes very quickly and intensively. But if the soil is saturated with inorganic remains, then archaeologists have a great opportunity to restore the picture of the settlement and reproduce the life of the tribe and the people. In this case, the thickness of the layer can reach even up to 6 meters (this is the level fixed at the excavation in the city of Staraya Russa).

Stratification

Under this concept, it is customary to imply alternation of layers with respect to each other, as well as natural natural deposits. The study of stratification is extremely important for archeology, since it allows one to trace the history of layer formation. One of the most common methods is the principle of overlapping strata. In this case, it is considered that the level that is lower is older and older than the one that is at the top. However, this method is applicable only in specific cases, since often the upper layer is older. The principle of cutting means that any extraneous sprinkling in the sediment appeared later than the environment in which it is located. Scientists at dating often take into account the fact that the layer of a cultural layer could be formed after the objects contained in it. In addition, science takes into account the fact that the date of a closed complex coincides with the time of the artifacts that were in it. For example, things from the grave were put there at a time when they existed, so they can be dated the time of the people's existence in the given area.

Features of burial grounds

This layer is distinguished by the fact that it is not formed continuously and not in a natural way, as housing layers, but, on the contrary, it arises as a result of human intervention in the soil structure. In this case, the existing layer is often violated. If the burial ground exists for a long time, then for decades and centuries old burial sites are destroyed and new ones appear in their place. Burials are important because in them in one closed place artifacts of one time are collected, which greatly facilitates dating. In addition, the burial allows you to judge the culture and beliefs of peoples of a particular era. Layers in these places are not superimposed on each other, but, on the contrary, deepen into the ground. Thus, cultural strata are wedged into each other, forming a stratification.