RELATIVE, typology - the systematic organization of artifacts into types on the basis of shared attributes (a minimal characteristic of an artifact such that it cannot be further subdivided; e.g. form, style, decoration, color, and raw material). *
seriation - relative dating technique based on the chronological ordering of a group of artifacts, where the most similar are placed adjacent to each other in the series. (there are two types of seriation frequency and contextual seriation.)* This is helpful for many different artifacts, pottery in particular. There can be problems with this type of dating due to archaism (styles revive), radical change in style, and hierlooms (old objects kept with new).
*definations from Archeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice by Colin Refrew and Paul Bahn. © 2000
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