Archaeology Terms
Relative Dating
Determining age relative to other items or events, such as saying one point style is older than another. Artifact styles and stratigraphy are often used to give sites relative dates. Finding a particular ceramic style consistently below another style would indicate it was older, but there is no way to determine just how old. Relative and absolute dating work together to support interpretations of changes over time. Radiocarbon dating (an absolute dating method) can provide a specific date for different layers. However, many sites do not have organic material that can be submitted for radiocarbon dating, so interpretations rely on relative dating of sequences and comparison to other sites.