Skim the PKAP 2009 Excavation Manual. What observations or questions do you have about the methods we will be employing this summer?
To be honest, most of my questions are pretty basic, because half of the terms I don't fully understand. But here are a few, and I guess they are focused more towards people who have done this before…
1.) Why do archaeologists backfill? It seems so sad to have to cover everything back up. (Manual p. 1)
2.) What are the differences between the 'modern scientific standards for excavation in the Mediterranean' and that which we might encounter back in the US? (Manual p. 1)
3.) What is a scarp and why will it collapse and kill me if I stand near the edge?Will the scarp really collapse and kill me if I stand near the edge? (10 Commandements of Excavation)
4.) Have you found skeletons at these sites before? If so, did you name them? (p 20? 'Graves')
Courtney,
1. Backfilling is the responsible thing to do because it protects the antiquities. Exposing walls and remains to the elements actually leads quickly to their disintegration or looting. So unless a project is able to fork out money for restoration work, the best thing is to backfill at the end of the season.
2. In my experience, some main differences:
-In the US, the main instrument is the trowel; in the Mediterranean it is the pick (this says something about the sensitivity in approach)
-In the US, most deposits are within half a meter of surface; in the Mediterranean they can be meters deep because of continuous occupation
-In the US, artifacts are infinitely fewer than in the Mediterranean. Consequently, attitudes toward collecting artifacts has to be different in the Mediterranean—you can't save everything!
3. The scarp is the side of the excavation trench. The deeper the trench, the more dangerous it is to stand on the scarp wall because you're likely to have a great fall. You're also more likely to upset the supervisor because we like clean scarp walls for final photographs. (We may be exaggerating a little about the killing part)
4. PKAP has never found skeletons yet but we know there are graves in the area that others have excavated previously. (And so we haven't named them!)
Now that you've explained it, I see why backfilling is important. Does this ever cause any issues with the progress? The artifacts would be in the musuem, but larger things that must be left…well, I'd imagine that even with the documentation, when/if people dig at the spot again, are there ever problems?
Also, you mention that you can't save everything. So where do the extra unwanted things go?
I hope we find some skeletons. Maybe we could name one Lepidus?
Courtney,
Believe it or not, we'll put a lot of the material back into the ground in the end. Perhaps next year, we'll be redepositing pottery. Remember: the pottery is trying to find its way home.
Lepidus? Wait a sec, is this your effort to associate your friend Marty with a skeleton?
David
You mentioned above some artifacts are put back into the ground. Do you try and put pottery back exactly where you found it? Also how is the decision made on what gets sent to the museum and what goes back where it came from.
I'm with Courtney…there are a lot of terms I just don't understand. Will we review these terms and methods once we are on site and can have a better visual of what we'll be working with? (oh, the curses of being a more visual-oriented learner, haha)
Also, what exactly is wet-sieving and how is it done? (Maybe that's just a dumb question, but I had trouble understanding what it was from the manual.)
As a follow up to Courtney's question about backfilling: if an area has already been excavated and backfilled, how does this affect future development on the site? Is it possible for the land to be used and developed if the area has already been studied and it has been determined that the artifacts there are not unique and the decision has already been made to leave the artifacts?
And yes, I think she is trying to make that association…I'm thinking I should probably be a little worried…
Caitlin,
We'll go over these in Cyprus and you'll learn best by doing. But it's good to become familiar with the material now.
Wet sieving is filtering soils through very fine mesh (like 1 mm). The only way to get it through the mesh is with water, which washes out the sediments and leaves behind the light material (like seeds and charcoal bits) and heavy fraction (like small rocks).
It all depends on what we find. If the area shows significant cultural materials and architecture, the archaeologists can make the case that the site should remain undeveloped. We've made this kind of argument for our excavated contexts at Vigla and Kokkinokremos. We'll see if we can get them a protected status.
David
Are any precautions taken to ensure that the sites are not tampered with while the staff isn't present (overnight for example)?
I think my PKAP 2009 Excavation Manual got copied backward. Also some of it did not copy that well. I have two questions.
1)I was wondering what exactly is “stratum slope”?
2)Also is there a note book for each area that we are working on or is there only are individual notebooks. It sort of sounds as if we had both in the Manual.
I was also wondering about the notebooks. I have one for personal use, one to be turned in and one for the field. Should I grab an extra one for the field or is one enough?
Not to worry, one is enough. We'll explain these notebooks once we're there.
I'm with Courtney and Caitlin, I am a visual learner and a review of these terms and techniques would be great on site!
Here are a few questions and observations that I have:
1. In the 10 commandments of excavation, it says to dig a little deeper into the next level rather than not deep enough into the top level. How are these levels recognized readily.
2. Also, what problems for contamination of any sort (not completely digging out a level, pushing scrap into the trench, leaving foreign objects lay around) are the most common if any?
3. How much work will we be doing with photographs, taking them in the field or labeling/indexing them?
4. Also, i bought a trowel but its not from the same company of the ones that you are sending along, how much ribbing am I going to get if/ when it breaks or dulls?
We will certainly taunt you if your non-Marshalltown breaks!
The example of the pages that need to be completed were very helpful and actually answered a lot of the questions I had. One of the things I found confusing were the abbreviations. What sort of permits or documentation needs to be obtained prior to excavating? What is included in the process of preparing for excavation? Also, will there be a lesson/example on how to properly use the trowel?
I agree with Rachel…it was very helpful to have the copies of those forms to review. I was a little confused about them though - do we each fill out forms for our own areas or is there one person who is responsible for collecting and recording data?
No worries about this—we'll explain all of this on Sunday or Monday. Remember these questions when we discuss.
While I was reading all of this, i noticed that there is about a week between when we arrive and when we actually start excavating. Is there going to be like a little tutorial period or something? Because I agree with what everyone else said, seeing all of the things the manual talks about will make it so much easier to recognize and learn.