The cultural layer is a part of the earth that contains the remains of human life. It can have a different depth and thickness: from a few centimeters to tens of meters. His study 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 items of labor and household waste are found in these layers.
Composition
The cultural layer consists of artifacts. Under the latter term, it is customary to consider everything that, one way or another, has been processed by people. As a rule, this includes tools, household utensils, body jewelry, clothes, spindle whorls, arrowheads and many other items. Artifacts also include secondary products left over from the main production process. The latter category includes slags - the material preserved after the smelting of metals, extra threads thrown away after the manufacture of clothes or blunt stones that were used to create axes, saws and other tools. The cultural layer can even contain an entire industrial complex - a structure designed for large-scale production. For example, abandoned log cabins are often found on grayings, where once people were engaged in metallurgy. In such areasthey find the remains of a log house, a stove, and some tools.
Buildings
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 structure is an ordinary utility pit. It is very easy to find and identify by the darker soil on the surface, as it is filled with human waste products. Their study is extremely important, since such pits give an idea of several aspects of human life: food, clothing, production, etc. In addition, the remains of a 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 cabins, foundations, walls, hearths. Tunnels, palisades, defensive ramparts can be attributed to the same category. The last category of construction sites is very well visible during archaeological exploration, as they are located on hills.
Biological remains
The cultural layer of the earth is saturated with materials that were once part of wildlife, but due to certain circumstances, fell into the sphere of human life. This category includes raw bones, snail shells, plant seeds and pollen, tree leaves, etc. There are four types of biological remains. The first group includes food waste: this is the food that remains after eating people, or whatwhat was used in the cooking process. For example, archaeologists often find animal bones at sites. The archaeological cultural layer consists of technical waste: substances of plant or animal origin that remain during the production process (for example, wood chips, straw, bone fragments, etc.). The third group includes ecofacts - biological remains that got to the place of residence of people without their direct participation (pollen, seeds, plant remains, etc.). They are important because they allow reconstructing the natural human habitat. And, finally, the fourth group is inorganic remains (natural deposits accumulated around the monument). The cultural layer in archeology may contain traces of human activities to transform the environment of their habitat (for example, sand filling to a palisade).
Complex
Archaeological materials are in direct connection with each other and together create the most complete picture of a particular period of human life. Under this concept, it is customary to mean a set of things that could have been made or manufactured in different periods, but ended up in the settlement at the same time and therefore remained almost intact. Such a find is called a closed complex (a coin hoard, grave goods). Excavations are of decisive importance for the development of archeology. The cultural layer may have wider boundaries. Often archaeologists, in order to study a whole period of time, artificially expand the complex,attracting data from neighboring layers into it. In this case, it is customary to speak of an open complex.
Formation
The layer builds up over a certain period of time. The first stage is the deposition of natural natural deposits: for example, the appearance of deposits, continental strata. At the beginning of construction, certain remnants of human activity fall into the ground: building material, remnants of tools. This is how the original zone of the cultural layer is formed. Over the course of decades and centuries, the initial level is gradually buried by the already direct waste of the existence of people in a particular locality. The earth is filled with the remnants of food, ceramics, animal remains, clothing, etc. But there comes a time when all buildings either collapse from time to time or die as a result of natural disasters, which leads to the formation of a new layer - a layer of destruction.
Conditions for layer formation
The more organic remains in the ground, 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 the reproduction of the life of the tribe and people. In this case, the thickness of the layer can even reach up to 6 meters (this is the level recorded at the excavation site in the city of Staraya Russa).
Stratification
Under this concept, it is customary to mean the alternation of layers in relation to each other, as well as to natural deposits. The study of stratification is extremely important for archaeology, as it allows us to trace the history of the formation of the layer. One of the most common methods is the principle of overlapping layers. In this case, it is generally accepted that the level below is older and older than the one above. However, this method is applicable only in specific cases, since often the top layer is older. The principle of cutting means that any extraneous inclusion in the sediment appeared later than the environment in which it is located. When dating, scientists often take into account the fact that a cultural layer could have formed after the objects it contained. In addition, science takes into account the fact that the date of the closed complex coincides with the time of the artifacts that were in it. For example, things from the grave were put there at the time when they existed, so they can be dated to the time of the existence of the people in the area.
Features of burial grounds
This layer differs in that it is not formed constantly and not in a natural way, like housing layers, but, on the contrary, arises as a result of human intervention in the soil structure. In this case, an already existing layer is often violated. If the burial ground exists for a long time, then over the course of decades and centuries, old burials are destroyed andnew ones appear in their place. Burials are important in that they contain artifacts of the same time in one closed place, which greatly facilitates dating. In addition, burials allow us to judge the culture and beliefs of the peoples of a particular era. The layers in these places do not overlap, but, on the contrary, go deep into the ground. Thus, cultural strata wedged into each other, forming a stratification.
