Sequence Dating
Encyclopedia
Sequence Dating, a relative dating method, was a method of dating developed by the Egyptologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie
. By linking styles of pottery with periods, he was the first to use seriation
in Egyptology, a new method for establishing the chronology of a site. It allowed the relative date, if not the absolute date, of any given Predynastic Egypt
site to be ascertained by examining the handles on pottery. As the predynastic period progressed, the handles on pottery moved from functional to ornamental, and the degree to which any given archaeological site has functional or ornamental pottery can be used to determine the relative date of the site.
William Matthew Flinders Petrie
William Matthew Flinders Petrie FRS , commonly known as Flinders Petrie, was an English Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and preservation of artifacts...
. By linking styles of pottery with periods, he was the first to use seriation
Seriation (archaeology)
In archaeology, seriation is a relative dating method in which assemblages or artifacts from numerous sites, in the same culture, are placed in chronological order. Where absolute dating methods, such as carbon dating, cannot be applied, archaeologists have to use relative dating methods to date...
in Egyptology, a new method for establishing the chronology of a site. It allowed the relative date, if not the absolute date, of any given Predynastic Egypt
Predynastic Egypt
The Prehistory of Egypt spans the period of earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt in ca. 3100 BC, starting with King Menes/Narmer....
site to be ascertained by examining the handles on pottery. As the predynastic period progressed, the handles on pottery moved from functional to ornamental, and the degree to which any given archaeological site has functional or ornamental pottery can be used to determine the relative date of the site.