Where absolute dating methods, such as radio carbon, cannot be applied, archaeologists have to use relative dating methods to date archaeological finds and features. Seriation is a standard method of dating in archaeology. It can be used to date stone tools, pottery fragments, and other artifacts.

What is Seriation method?

Seriation, also referred to as ordination, is a statistical method that dates back more than 100 years (Petrie, 1899). It seeks the best enumeration order of a set of described objects. The sought order can be characteristic of the data, a chronological order, a gradient, or any sequential structure of the data.

What is frequency Seriation?

Frequency seriation is a technique that produces chronological sequences by arranging descriptions of assemblages so that the frequencies of artifact classes jointly form unimodal distributions.

What are the types of dating in archaeology?

There are two main categories of dating methods in archaeology: indirect or relative dating and absolute dating. Relative dating includes methods that rely on the analysis of comparative data or the context (eg, geological, regional, cultural) in which the object one wishes to date is found.

How do you test for seriation?

In the laboratory, Piaget tested childrens seriation by showing that they could arrange sticks of different lengths into order from the smallest to the largest.

What is seriation in teaching?

Seriation is arranging objects in order by size, location or position. Ordering requires the ability to see differences and compare multiple objects.