CIP A 2003 XIX 11 ' International Symposium, 30 September - 04 October, 2003, Antalya, Turkey 
or other information and observations have to be related to 
the deposits and surfaces, i.e. the units of stratification. 
Single deposits are 3D volumes of material that are de 
stroyed by excavating them in the reverse order of their 
deposition. Deposits can only be recorded partially as most 
of their mass is simply excavated. The material aspects of 
stratification, the deposit's data, can only be captured by 
sampling. For the stratigraphic record the deposit is 
reduced to a unique number in the stratigraphic sequence. 
It imparts this number to all of the portable finds and 
samples found within its volume during the process of 
destruction. The finds or samples are isolated from the 
stratigraphic unit while excavating it. Their 3D position can 
be easily defined upon discovery or extraction. The finds 
and samples are recorded in 3D space as three 
dimensional points or small volumes, thus reduced to a 
set of coordinates. All further data derived from the finds 
can be stored in a database, photographs and find 
drawings. 
In contradiction to deposits, surfaces, the immaterial 
aspects of stratification, can be recorded entirely. Single 
surface recording provides the ability to virtually reconstruct 
the excavated volumes in three dimensions. Therefore, 
3D recording of the top and the bottom surface of any single 
deposit is necessary to fully reconstruct the part of the site 
that was destroyed during the process of excavation. The 
recording of a single surface can be done by giving it a 
unique number and documenting its boundary polygon as 
well as its topography. Therefore it is reduced to a set of 
coordinates, too. The collected sets of coordinates from 
surfaces and deposits are the primary raw data for the 
GIS. 
Contrary to the deposit, a surface can be recorded in its 
entirety and that is the reason for its outstanding impor 
tance to stratigraphic analysis. Any deposit is enclosed by 
its top surface, once exposed to air, and its bottom surface 
which is in superposition to the top surfaces of older de 
posits or interfaces. Interfaces are surfaces in their own 
right as the surface of a pit, ditch, wall etc. Thus it becomes 
clear that surfaces always comprise more than 50 % of 
any stratigraphic record! Surfaces represent the use peri 
ods of a site and thus account for far more time in the 
site's history than deposits do. It’s the single surfaces that 
can be recorded and have to be recorded entirely. They are 
the primary element for the reconstruction of the topogra 
phy of the site through time. 
Stratigraphic recording ends in the creation of a 
stratigraphic sequence based on the spatial relationship 
of the units of stratification. The stratigraphic sequence 
provides the ability to visualise time. It is the important 
diagrammatic representation of time and provides a rela 
tive calendar, the testing pattern for any further analysis. 
3. THE STRATIGRAPHIC RECORD AND GIS 
The most important concept to come out of the fore said is 
the need for single surface planning (Harris, 2001). 
Conventionally analogue single surface planning is done 
by measuring relative or absolute coordinates (orthogonal 
or polar) of the boundary polygon using tapes. The poly 
gon is then drawn by hand on paper ruled in millimetre 
squares or a pre-printed recording sheet. This procedure 
usually takes up a great deal of time. The accuracy depends 
largely on the used method of measurement and the skills 
of the archaeologist. The result is a two dimensional plan 
of the single surface. The third dimension is added by 
spot heights. To be able to use hand drawn plans in a GIS, 
they have to be digitised. Again, this procedure takes up 
time and budget. Therefore, in many places, archaeolo 
gists went over to using total stations for the mapping of 
single surfaces, quickly measuring absolute coordinates 
with high accuracy. The use of totalstations also provides 
the possibility for easy 3D mapping of find and sample 
spots. 
The photographic documentation is usually done analog, 
where pictures of the exposed surfaces are captured on 
film from a more or less oblique perspective. One of the 
major problems of films is the processing time. Thus the 
photographic record cannot be checked immediately. As 
the excavation advances, the photographic record will be 
missing if processing fails. Digital cameras are therefore 
used more often in combination with B&W or colour prints. 
The outstandingvalue of a GIS is its ability to reproduce the 
complete record of a stratigraphic surface as well as any 
related descriptive information. The GIS functionality pro 
vides the ability to visualize surfaces as contour plots or 
triangulated irregular networks. It makes it easy to com 
bine the boundary polygon of surfaces or deposits as once 
exposed to air with rectified digital images. The finds can 
be mapped as registered within the volumes defined by 
top and bottom surfaces of the corresponding single 
deposits, classified by stratigraphic position or material 
aspects. 
The way GIS functions, it permits the dynamical mapping 
of single surfaces or the creation of composite maps 
(phase or period maps, sections at any position, etc.), 
based on the recorded data. The decisions on how to 
compose the necessary maps is derived from the analysis 
of the stratigraphic sequence. The secondary data dealing 
with the various aspects (location, material, date etc.) of 
the finds uncovered is stored in the spatial database of the 
GIS. There, it can be combined with the graphical 
visualisations, analysed and counterchecked. 
4. THE RECORDING PROCESS 
At stratigraphic excavations it is of major interest, to check 
the recording during the process of excavating. Therefore, 
we developed techniques of recording, where boundary 
polygons and topography of surfaces, finds and the photo 
graphic record of each unit of stratification are recorded 
digitally and immediately interfaced to the GIS. The 
resulting GIS-based system consists of a total station, a 
digital camera and a PC/Laptop with ArcView GIS (Version 
3.2) and Monobild (or a similar software for rectification). 
For the creation of the stratigraphic sequence we use 
ArchEd (http://www.ads.tuwien.ac.at/arched/). 
The standardised process of recording is divided in sev 
eral subsequent steps, that are repeated for any exca 
vated deposit: