Closed find
Closed find , find complex and socialized find are technical terms in archeology or prehistory and early history for finds in an undisturbed, shared location.
Definition of terms
A first important definition for the closed find comes from Oscar Montelius ( Die Methode , 1903, p. 3):
"A certain [closed] find ... can be described as the sum of those objects which have been found under such conditions that they must be regarded as being deposited at the same time."
From a stratigraphic point of view, a closed find is a find layer or a stratum. It is crucial that all the finds contained therein were deposited at the same time, regardless of when they were produced and how long they were used.
In contrast to the closed find, there are found complexes from multi-layered areas, for example from settlement excavations. These cannot be regarded as closed, as they originate from several strata and reached the earth at different times (e.g. the Pompeii find complex ).
Methods
Fundamental to the development of a relative chronology is that objects from closed finds are largely simultaneous. From the synopsis of many closed finds in find complexes, several related find complexes and the societies occurring in them, it can be deduced which objects are regularly combined with one another, i.e. H. are regularly at the same time.
Of socialization occurs when within a closed find complex artifacts but encountered different species or the same genus of different cultures or regions. An example are finds within a stratum or a grave.
A socialization of finds can be of great importance if z. B. datable artefacts are found together with previously non-datable artifacts. In this way, a date can be obtained for the objects that are not determined in time, and possibly even the entire complex of finds can be dated . Socialized objects that were manufactured in different regions also testify to trade relationships .
Examples
Examples are graves with their grave goods, depot finds or quickly filled pits in settlements. Disasters can also lead to closed finds, such as shipwrecks . Finds from false floors or building cavities also count to closed finds.
Find complexes that enable a relative chronology by lining up and overlapping the same or very similar objects from closed finds are grave fields , for example , but also hoard finds from a large regional area.
The method of relating closed finds can also be used for the layers of ruins of a city ( event stratigraphy : history of a settlement), the same structural forms in a region (evidence of a closed culture) or wreck heaps on a certain reef (presumed common travel routes).
literature
- Hans Jürgen Eggers , Introduction to Prehistory (Munich 1974).
- Manfred Eggert , Prehistoric Archeology. Concepts and methods (Tübingen 2012).
- Manfred Eggert / Stefanie Samida, Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archeology (Tübingen 2013).
- Doreen Mölders / Sabine Wolfram (eds.), Key terms in prehistoric archeology. Tübingen archaeological paperbacks 11 (Münster, Westf. 2015).
- Martin Trachsel, Prehistory and Early History. Sources, methods, goals (Stuttgart 2008).
Individual evidence
- ^ Oscar Montelius: The older cultural periods in the Orient and in Europe. I. The method. Asher, Stockholm 1903