Fill (archaeology)

In many cases this will be a silt or naturally accumulating material that forms in the base of some hole or trench before its function is realized.

Similarly, a ditch that silts up by neglect could represent the start of the end of the features function in the record.

[citation needed] Slumping is a process that can occur to any context in the archaeological record and not just fills.

Slumping represents how a context's deposition morphology may deform from its original position by natural settling action.

Tip lines are an intrinsic characteristic of fills, but they can apply to many other types of context such as dumps.