Popular Technical Terms H

The Harris Matrix is a system for organizing and representing the relative ages of contexts within an archaeological site. In essence each element of a site can be displayed in relative time order. It works on the principal that if a relative age relationship can be worked out between context A and B and also between B and C it may be possible to work out the relative position of A to C. Contemporanity between contexts can also be displayed, i.e. the contexts are of the same date. A box represents each context, identified by a unique number, and relationships are shown by the positions of the boxes to one another and the fact that they linked by a line. If a box is drawn above another box that it is linked to it means that the context represented above is later in date. Boxes shown alongside one another are contexts of the same age. In this way artefacts from within the contexts may also be assigned a date in relation to those from other contexts.

Hedgerow Dating

Most of the hedgerows present in the British landscape were planted within the last few hundred years but there are examples that are much older. Dr Max Hooper proposed that counting the number of species present in a 30m section and equating each species with 100 years could date hedgerows. Thus if 4 different tree or shrub species were present then the hedge was likely to be at least 400 years old. This theory was formulated after Hooper had analysed a number of hedgerows that had been securely dated due to their inclusion in historical documents. It is advised that in order to obtain an average result 3 different 30m lengths of a hedge should be analysed.

More recent research, however, has shed doubt on the effectiveness of this method indicating that in some cases soil type has more influence on the number of species present than age. Other work has also indicated that it is not the number but the type of species present, which can indicate age. In 1990 the Shapwick Project studied four hedgerows on Beerway and Church farms counting and categorising species present in certain lengths of hedge. Statistical analysis of the results implied the abundance of each species and the determining of principal components may also be an important factor in age determination. It was also suggested that factors such as management, time of recording and experience of recorder could influence the results obtained for a hedge date.

Hominid

Hominids are all members of the family ‘Hominidae’ and this includes modern man and extinct forbears. Hominidae are all the species that have evolved from the last common ancestor of man and the ape. The earliest hominids so far discovered are between 6 and 7 million years old in Chad, Africa and are named Sahelanthropus tchadensis.

Hunter-Gatherer

The term used to describe populations of people who survived by travelling around the landscape hunting and gathering wild foods rather than by settling in one location to raise crops and domesticate animals. In Somerset the hunter-gatherer lifestyle declined after the Mesolithic period with the widespread change to farming.

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