MVAC Home

Archaeologists seek to understand both the horizontal and vertical layouts of sites and wider regions as they carry out their research. MVAC Research Intern Cindy Kocik focuses on the vertical view in this discussion of how archaeologists study soil profiles and stratigraphy, or the layers of material we find at a site, to interpret past human activity. Whether tracking a single event, like the creation of a small garbage pit, or multiple episodes of deposition and wash-in of surrounding soil, looking at profiles is highly informative.  Studying how humans impacted the land and altered the natural soil formation processes helps archaeologists understand what happened over time at an archaeological site and why.