Stratigraphic integrity

Stratigraphic integrity is the preservation of an archaeological site's layers so their order and context stay readable. In Intro to Archaeology, it lets you date finds and reconstruct what happened at the site.

What is stratigraphic integrity?

Stratigraphic integrity is how well an archaeological site keeps its layers in their original order and context. In Intro to Archaeology, it means the soil, sediment, and deposits still reflect the sequence in which people used the site and natural processes changed it.

Think of a site as a layered record. Older deposits should usually sit below newer ones, unless something has disturbed them. When that layering stays intact, archaeologists can use stratigraphy to figure out which artifacts came first, which features were added later, and how the site changed over time.

This is not just about dirt looking neat in a trench. A layer can be mixed by erosion, digging, burrowing animals, construction, or repeated reuse of the same spot. Once layers are moved around, an artifact may no longer belong to the date or activity you first think it does.

That is why archaeologists watch context so closely. If a pottery sherd is found in a sealed layer, it gives a different kind of evidence than the same sherd found in disturbed fill. Good stratigraphic integrity means the layer itself can be trusted as part of the story, not just the object inside it.

Archaeologists document this with stratigraphic profiles, field drawings, photos, and careful excavation by layer. The goal is to preserve the relationship between deposits as much as possible while uncovering them. If the sequence stays readable, the site can tell a clear story about human activity, abandonment, reuse, and natural change.

Why stratigraphic integrity matters in Intro to Archaeology

Stratigraphic integrity is what makes archaeological interpretation more than guesswork. Without it, you can still recover artifacts, but you lose the reliable sequence that tells you whether those objects were used together, deposited at different times, or moved after burial.

That matters in the study of site formation processes, because archaeology is not just about what people left behind. It is also about what happened to those remains after deposition. A layer that has been cut by a pit, churned by animal burrowing, or eroded by water can produce a misleading picture of daily life, technology, or trade.

In a class assignment, this term often shows up when you are asked to explain why an artifact’s location in the soil matters as much as the artifact itself. It also helps you read excavation diagrams and profiles, where the order of layers tells you the timeline of occupation, abandonment, rebuilding, or disturbance.

If you can spot when stratigraphic integrity is strong or weak, you can make better arguments about what a site can and cannot prove.

How stratigraphic integrity connects across the course

Stratigraphy

Stratigraphy is the study of layered deposits, and stratigraphic integrity is about whether those layers still preserve a readable sequence. If the layers are intact, stratigraphy can be used to build a relative timeline. If they are mixed or cut through, the stratigraphic story becomes less reliable and harder to interpret.

Context

Context is the place an artifact or feature sits within the archaeological record, including its layer, association, and position. Stratigraphic integrity protects context by keeping objects where they belong in the sequence. When context is lost, the artifact may still be real, but its meaning becomes much weaker.

Taphonomy

Taphonomy looks at what happens to remains after deposition, including decay, movement, and alteration. Stratigraphic integrity can be damaged by taphonomic processes such as soil settling, water movement, or animal activity. Together, these ideas help explain whether what you see in the ground is original or changed after burial.

Animal Burrowing

Animal burrowing is a common natural disturbance that can pull artifacts from one layer into another. That means a bone, shard, or bead may appear in a layer where it does not really belong. If you see burrows in a profile, you have to be careful about using nearby finds to date the layer.

Is stratigraphic integrity on the Intro to Archaeology exam?

A quiz question or lab practical may show you a stratigraphic profile and ask whether the deposits are intact or disturbed. Your job is to look for clean layer boundaries, cuts, mixed sediments, or displaced artifacts, then explain what that means for dating and interpretation. In short-answer essays, you might use stratigraphic integrity to justify why one layer can be trusted as older than another, or why a find cannot be tied to a single occupation event. If the site has obvious disturbance, say how that changes the confidence of the archaeological conclusion instead of treating every layer as equal.

Key things to remember about stratigraphic integrity

• Stratigraphic integrity means the layers at an archaeological site still preserve their original order and relationship.

• When integrity is strong, archaeologists can use layer position to build a relative sequence of events and date finds more confidently.

• When integrity is weak, artifacts may have been moved by erosion, digging, burrowing, or construction, which can distort interpretation.

• A stratigraphic profile is one of the main tools for documenting whether deposits are intact, mixed, or cut by later activity.

• The term matters because archaeology depends on context, not just the objects themselves.

Frequently asked questions about stratigraphic integrity

What is stratigraphic integrity in Intro to Archaeology?

Stratigraphic integrity is the preservation of an archaeological site's layers in their original order so archaeologists can interpret them reliably. In Intro to Archaeology, it tells you whether the sequence of deposits still makes sense for dating artifacts and reconstructing human activity.

What can damage stratigraphic integrity?

Common disturbances include erosion, construction, digging, and animal burrowing. These processes can move artifacts between layers or blur the boundaries of deposits, which makes it harder to tell what happened when at the site.

How is stratigraphic integrity different from context?

Context is the specific setting of an artifact or feature, while stratigraphic integrity is about whether the layers that create that setting are still intact. Good integrity supports good context, but a disturbed layer can weaken or destroy context even if the object itself is still present.

Why do archaeologists care about stratigraphic profiles?

Stratigraphic profiles show the layers in a trench side view, so archaeologists can record the order of deposits and spot disturbances. They are a fast way to check whether a site's sequence is readable or whether later processes have mixed things up.