Harris Matrix Depth Order Checker

Topologically audit supplied older-to-younger Harris relations, reporting measured positive-down depth contradictions without overwriting stratigraphy; input order breaks ties and cycles error.

Description

A Harris matrix records relative older-to-younger context relationships.

A Harris matrix records relative older-to-younger context relationships. Measured depth can be audited against those relations without overwriting stratigraphic evidence with a depth sort.^[1]

Topologically audit supplied older-to-younger Harris relations, reporting measured positive-down depth contradictions without overwriting stratigraphy; input order breaks ties and cycles error.

When to use Harris Matrix Depth Order Checker

Use this tool to topologically audit supplied older-to-younger Harris relations, reporting measured positive-down depth contradictions without overwriting stratigraphy; input order breaks ties and cycles error.

Prepare the artifact, site or survey measurements and any independently established calibration or model choices. Keep paired observations aligned and confirm units and coordinate conventions.

How to use Harris Matrix Depth Order Checker and understand its results

Prepare the artifact, site or survey measurements and any independently established calibration or model choices. Keep paired observations aligned and confirm units and coordinate conventions.
Enter contextIds, olderToYoungerEdges, observedDepthsM, callerDepthToleranceM using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read oldestFirstContextIds, depthContradictionEdgeFlags. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
contextIds	Context ids	list of number	Required
olderToYoungerEdges	Older to younger edges	list of list of number	Required
observedDepthsM	Observed depths m	list of number	Required
callerDepthToleranceM	Caller depth tolerance m	number	Required

Supply 1–128 distinct nonnegative context IDs, aligned nonnegative positive-down depths in m, nonnegative tolerance and up to 100,000 older-to-younger ID pairs. Edges must join distinct known IDs. Deduplicate edges for topological sorting, break eligible-node ties by input order and reject cycles. Return ordered IDs and a contradiction flag for each original edge record.

Paired lists must be nonempty and have equal lengths.

oldest-first order = topological order; contradiction = olderDepth+tolerance<youngerDepth

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
oldestFirstContextIds	Oldest first context ids	list of number
depthContradictionEdgeFlags	Depth contradiction edge flags	list of number

json

{
  "input": {
    "contextIds": [
      10,
      20,
      30
    ],
    "olderToYoungerEdges": [
      [
        10,
        20
      ],
      [
        20,
        30
      ]
    ],
    "observedDepthsM": [
      3,
      2,
      1
    ],
    "callerDepthToleranceM": 0
  },
  "output": {
    "oldestFirstContextIds": [
      10,
      20,
      30
    ],
    "depthContradictionEdgeFlags": [
      0,
      0
    ]
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

Depth discrepancies are reported for review, not used to reverse supplied relationships. The tool does not infer missing edges, chronological dates or site formation processes.

Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Matrices are limited to 128 rows and 128 entries per row; other numeric lists are limited to 100,000 entries. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Arrangement Series Depth Hierarchy Level Counter: Resolve caller actual parent-index forest depth with explicit roots and cycle refusal, no inference of archival arrangement from a flat count; bounded to one million parent traversals. For a complementary task, use Context Number Sequence Checker: Audit observed context IDs for missing expected numbers, duplicates and outside-range IDs; omissions do not establish lost archaeological contexts.

References

Harris Matrix Depth Order Checker — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Arrangement Series Depth Hierarchy Level Counter
Resolve caller actual parent-index forest depth with explicit roots and cycle refusal, no inference of archival arrangement from a flat count; bounded to one million parent traversals.
Context Number Sequence Checker
Audit observed context IDs for missing expected numbers, duplicates and outside-range IDs; omissions do not establish lost archaeological contexts.