Stratification (archeology)

Okay kiddo, have you ever played with building blocks or Legos where you stack them up to make something tall? That's sort of what stratification is, but with layers of dirt and stuff from a long, long time ago.

Archaeologists dig down into the ground to find old artifacts and things that people used a really long time ago. When they dig down, they often find layers of dirt and stuff that have built up over time. Kind of like when you drop crumbs on the floor and they make a mess, and then you drop more crumbs on top and it makes an even bigger mess.

The thing is, those layers of dirt and stuff can tell us a lot about what life was like back then. Like when people lived there, what they did, what they used, and even what they ate! So, archaeologists pay close attention to those layers of dirt and stuff to learn about the past.

Sometimes, when lots of things are found in one layer, that's called a "stratum". A stratum can tell us a lot about what was happening during that time. So, it's like taking apart a tall building made of different Legos or building blocks, one block at a time, but instead of Legos or blocks, we're looking at layers of dirt and stuff that tell a really cool story about what happened a long time ago!