Editing Archaeological excavation (section)

=== Spot Dating ===
One important role of finds retrieval during excavation is the role of specialists to provide [[spot dating]] information on the contexts being removed from the archaeological record. This can provide advance warning of potential discoveries to come by virtue of [[Stratigraphy (archaeology)#Residual and intrusive finds|residual finds]] redeposited in contexts higher in the [[Sequence (archaeological)|sequence]] (which should be coming offsite earlier than contexts from early eras and phases). Spot dating also forms part of a confirmation process, of assessing the validity of the working hypothesis on the phasing of site during excavation. For example, the presence of an anomalous [[medieval]] pottery [[sherd]] in what was thought to be an Iron Age ditch feature could radically alter onsite thinking on the correct strategy for digging a site and save a lot of information being lost due to incorrect assumptions about the nature of the deposits which will be destroyed by the excavation process and in turn, limit the site's potential for revealing information for post-excavation specialists. Or anomalous information could show up errors in excavation such as "undercutting". [[Chronological dating|Dating methodology]] in part relies on accurate excavation and in this sense the two activities become interdependent.