ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 discusses time and space, the two ingredients of archaeological context. Artifacts and other finds torn from their positions in time and space are useless scientifically. Space in archaeology is closely tied to patterns of human behavior and associations of artifacts, food remains, and other structures with one another in the ground. We discuss the all-important Law of Association, which governs artifact patternings, also the Law of Superposition, which governs relative chronology, the establishment of chronological relationships between different occupation layers in archaeological sites. We also discuss absolute chronology, dating in calendar years, and some of the chronological methods that are used to do this. These include tree-ring chronology, radiocarbon dating, and potassium-argon methods.
