Dating in archaeology is the process of assigning a chronological value to an event in the past. Chronological value can also be considered at different scales. Ordinal scale, often called relative, specifies older or younger but not the distance between events.

How do archaeologists date?

Archaeologists use that assumption, called the law of superposition, to help determine a relative chronology for the site itself. Then, they use contextual clues and absolute dating techniques to help point to the age of the artifacts found in each layer.