Trampling the Archaeological Record: An Experimental Study

Abstract

This paper reports on several experiments carried out to explore the transformations of the archaeological record affected by trampling. These transformations include changes in artifact distributions and formal alterations that should be taken into account when carrying out studies of activity areas. The experiments were made on dry, hard-packed surfaces and in the same sediments after a rain. The materials used were bones, obsidian flakes, sherds, and fragments of brick and wood. The analysis focuses on vertical displacement, horizontal displacement, and damage (breakage, microflaking, and abrasion), paying special attention to the response of the trodden substrate and its implications for the whole process. The interaction of trampling with other formation processes (e.g., maintenance) also is considered. The main patterns observed in the trampled materials are vertical and horizontal size sorting, and characteristic size distributions in sherds. These empirical generalizations are then integrated in a model that can help to identify trampled contexts and assess their potential for behavioral inference.