In archaeology context is used as a technical term referring to the remains of an individual stratigraphic event. Contexts, therefore, are events in time which have been preserved in the archaeological record. The cutting of a pit or ditch in the past is a context, whilst the material filling it will be another. Multiple fills, seen as layers in archaeological section would mean multiple contexts. Structural features, natural deposits and inhumations are also contexts. By separating a site into these basic, discrete units, archaeologists are able to create a chronology for activity on a site and describe and interpret it. Artifacts in the main are not treated as contexts but belonging of them. Contexts can be referred to positive or negative depending on whether their formation added or removed material from the archaeological record. Negative contexts are cuts. It can not be stressed too strongly how fundamentally important the concept of context is in modern archaeological practice. Context is the prevalent term among English-speaking archaeologists but the terms locus and stratigraphic unit may also be used.