Archaeology and stratigraphy

Within the family of historical science, archaelogy qualifies, according to the most widespread definition – and that in which archaeologists recognize themselves most – as the discipline that studies past societies starting from material sources, or rather from objects that they have left. The evolution of archeology, over the last few decades, has led to a continuous expansion of the number of objects considered possible sources: even in the middle of the past century a university manual could state that “archaeological studies aim to reconstruct on the basis of historical ancient art”, already thirty years later not even the most traditionalist of scholars, still imbued with Crocianism, would at least publicly subscribe to this definition. Today we are perfectly aware that archaological sources can be shards, animal bones, seeds, and even pollen invisible to the naked eye, or post holes and dirt tracks, or entire landscapes that preserve traces of the different phases of settlement, as well as statues, monuments and painted vases