Sequence Dating

A method developed by Sir Flinders Petrie (for Egyptian predynastic cemeteries) for dating a group of similar objects according to their archaeological sequence. By studying the typology the changing forms of certain artifacts, they may be set into sequence. Petrie used it to arrange undated graves into a hypothetical (relative) chronological order according to the typology and association of the artifacts found in them (based on a stylistic seriation of Egyptian pre-dynastic tomb pottery). Artifacts found at other sites were then correlated with the sequence and given a sequence date. The technique can only be used to determine whether one type of artifact is earlier or later than another; it cannot show length of time between two. This type of seriation, when combined with cross-dating, is still useful in the absence of other dating methods.

Type of sériation combined with cross dating, used in the absence of any other dating method, originally applied by Sir Flinders Petrie to provide a relative chronology for pottery from Predynastic Egyptian cemeteries. A series of artefact forms can be built up from their stratigraphical relationships and typology. Petrie assigned numbers, called ‘Sequence Dates’, to different stages in this series. Artefacts found at other sites were then correlated with the sequence and given a sequence date. The typological series was not calibrated by reference to other dating methods, so the sequence dates provide only a relative and not an absolute chronology.