Natural in Archaeology is a term to denote a horizon in the stratigraphic record representing the point from which there is no man made activity on site and the archaeological record ends. Natural is often the underlying geological makeup of the site and is formed by geological processes. It is the goal of complete Excavation to remove the entirety of the archaeological record all the way to "Natural" thus leaving only the natural deposits of pre human activity on site. Development led practice has lead impact assessment which may stipulate excavation will stop at a certain depth because the nature of the development will not disturb remains below a certain level and thus may not reach natural. Archaeology, archeology, or archology (from the Greek words αÏχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... The archaeological record is a term used in archaeology to denote the physical remains of past human activities which archaeologists seek out and record in an attempt to analyise and reconstruct the past. ... Excavation is the best-known and most commonly used technique within the science of archaeology. ...
Issues of definition
Natural can be a relative term. On urban sites where time constraints my make a detail examination of the earliest part of the record impractical, prehistoric or rudimentary human activity may go unrecorded compared to an equivalent horizon on a rural site with an agenda to look for prehistoric evidence. The visibility of features in natural is to some extent a function of chemical and soil process overtime. The effect of these process is that the older a archaeological deposit is the more it will appear similar to the underlying geology. A very basic rule of thumb is "the greater the contrast a context has with the natural the younger it is" this is by no means definitive, In archaeology, not only the context (physical location) of a discovery a significant fact but the formation of the context is as well. ...
Geoarchaeology
Natural is becoming a blurred term in archaeology due to a increased understanding of natural processes and the development of Geoarchaeology in which the natural landscape is seen as having a bearing on interpretation of subsequent human activity on any given site. Geoarchaeology is also having a impact on interpreting processes which occur within the archaeological record and the term natural becomes less of a distinct horizon in the record. Geoarchaeology is a sub-field of archaeology which uses the techniques and subject matter of the earth sciences to examine topics which inform archaeological knowledge and thought. ...
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