Stratigraphy (archaeology)

Hi there! Do you know what a layer cake looks like? Imagine you have a layer cake but instead of cake and frosting layers, you have layers of dirt and sediment. That’s kind of what stratigraphy is like in archaeology!

So, imagine people lived a long, long time ago and left behind things like pottery, tools, and even trash (yuck!). Over time, the ground they lived on has built up layers and layers of dirt and sediment, just like how a layer cake has layers of cake and frosting. Each layer of dirt and sediment is like a page in a history book, showing us different things that happened at different times.

Archaeologists use special tools to carefully dig through these layers to find the artifacts and other things left behind. They can then study these artifacts and figure out interesting things like what kind of tools people used, what they ate, and how they lived.

By looking at the different layers and the things found in them, archaeologists can even figure out when different events happened. It’s kind of like reading a book but instead of words, they’re reading the dirt and the artifacts to learn about history!