That Eternal Layer

We had a discussion this evening covering the familiar ground of establishing a common IA notation and then I came home to see Peter’s marriage of Stewart and Jesse. All of this conspired to make me reflect on my former preoccupation — archaeology. An archaeologist takes that layer of a building that lasts for “eternity” and reconstructs the more ephemeral. The notation for describing a site plan in 2 dimensions is fairly standardized, but the depiction of the other layers in 3 dimensions (plus time) is constantly evolving. Here’s a site plan of Troy, and an attempt to represent all 7 settlement layers.