1st December 2008, 10:50 AM
Collated the suggestions for 'what a student should know about fieldwork"
is this good enough? too much? not enough
remember this is just for fieldwork
1 Basics of stratigraphy and how this relates to how you dig.
2 How to take a level, how to set it up and how to find a benchmark - plus how to reduce levels!
3 Laying out a trench with tapes
4 Locating your site and grid coordinates both site and national
5 setting up a section line (using a level and using a bubble level)
6 Proper use of each tool and when to use them
7 Directions for a JCB driver
7) an understanding of scale when drawing
:face-thinks: an understanding of how a matrix works, though not necessarily the experience to draw one.
9) knowledge of the basics of recording cuts, deposits and structures. Not full knowledge but, for example, understanding what a cut is as opposed to a deposit or layer. 7) an understanding of scale when drawing
:face-thinks: an understanding of how a matrix works, though not necessarily the experience to draw one.
9) knowledge of the basics of recording cuts, deposits and structures. Not full knowledge but, for example, understanding what a cut is as opposed to a deposit or layer.
10) Basic site formation process:
a)how a posthole is formed, and what the parts are called
b)how stakeholes are formed and why they rarely have cuts
c)how open cut features fill up
d)how walls decay, are robbed out etc
e)treebowls (NEVER boles, that's the trunk) and tree throws
f) the origins of deposits (erosion, floor, fluvial, aeolian etc.)
11) how to set up photographic scale & board, what's supposed to be in a photograph and what not (random buckets, tools, feet), and how to take a picture that isn't blurred, over- or under-exposed
12) lay out a site grid either by tapes, right angle prism, and/ or total station
13) be able to identify different kinds of material culture (pot/ brick/ stone tool) and ROUGHLY place them chronologically (Roman/ Medieval/ Post-Medieval/ from outer space)
14) how to take environmental samples for different types of analysis (bulk for botanics/ charcoal for C14 etc.) and from where
15) use of common/ standardized language when filling in context sheets
16) I would definitely advocate the photographic skills...how to take a useful photograph with a fully manual camera using ranging rods, takes practice.
17)I would also add understanding the difference between a geomorphological feature and an archaeological one
Seriously though, I would suggest teaching people how to approach excavating a site given that in commercial archaeology we are given a percentage of features to excavate. Careful planning and thought first and not digging the hell out of anything that looks like fill and then worrying about it afterwards.
general etiquette for behaving around heavy machinery onsite,
Health and safety training
Being able to dig like a JCB is no use if you're dead at the bottom of a 3 metre-deep unshored section (I won't name the unit, but I was there and they were stupid enough to take working shots). Not unique as I've now seen at least two other units put photos of 2m plus standing sections that have obviously been trowelled/had ranging rods put up against them/got a section line pinned into them into reports. One of them even consisted of 2m of loose brick and concrete rubble overlying colluvium at the botom of a 45% slope.
19) Having some idea what the report will look like aferwards. It often helps in realising why you have to record all that detail.....
b) Follow a process showing the field record, the site archive, how the site archive is used, how illustrations are produced and the report. (a bit of duplication of oldgirls) One thing I often enjoy is understanding the process from start to finish, so if I am in the office I understand the process of how the information was gathered, and if in the field I understand the information the person in the office needs.
having a simple understanding of the whole developer-funded process would be really useful. Like... what is PPG16 and how did it come about? what is a curatorial archaeologist and how does he/she set the brief? what is a desk-based assessment? how do you know where to put the trenches? why is the developer paying for this? who has which powers to say and do what - curator, contractor or client? what is the broader planning framework? what happens next? what happened before? what is competitive tendering?
I think that if graduates were given a far more realistic idea of commercial archaeology, the contracts and conditions you will experience and the difficulties in finding work then they may not be so disheartened and dissilussioned with the proffession quite as quickly.
units should rightfully expect graduates to be aware of the process and the skills involved with a basic understanding of field principles but that full training occurs onsite, at the coalface.
However, back to the main point, it is not fair to educate students and to just leave them high and dry at the end of their studies with little idea of how the next bit works.
ability to laugh at inclement weather,
the ability to obtain next job from new employer with a single phone call,
ready supply of crisps/doughnuts/fags depending on site hut colleagues,
ability to run/fuel/tax/insure a car, pay for rented accommodation, go to pub every night and still pay off that pesky student loan on measly amounts of wages,
a liking for ex-army surplus,
- Bradford University have been running an integrated 9month placement scheme (although many people worked the summers holidays either side as well) in their undergrad courses for years.
CPD⦠why and how
At the end of the day, these are all SKILLS, which take time and practice to develop. If we're all honest, how many of us were decent at everything that came up during our first commercial excavations?
I think most graduates do short or very sporadic excavation during a degree and universities vary widely in their requirements for this. It is probably unreasonable to expect everyone to be adept in all aspects of basic fieldwork following on from a few weeks digging spread thinly over 3 to 4 years. For example, during my degree, but I only ever once got the opportunity to excavate a pit or a posthole, there were either few of these features to go around or it was always walls!
"Gie's a Job.."
Prof. 'Dolly' Parton
is this good enough? too much? not enough
remember this is just for fieldwork
1 Basics of stratigraphy and how this relates to how you dig.
2 How to take a level, how to set it up and how to find a benchmark - plus how to reduce levels!
3 Laying out a trench with tapes
4 Locating your site and grid coordinates both site and national
5 setting up a section line (using a level and using a bubble level)
6 Proper use of each tool and when to use them
7 Directions for a JCB driver
7) an understanding of scale when drawing
:face-thinks: an understanding of how a matrix works, though not necessarily the experience to draw one.
9) knowledge of the basics of recording cuts, deposits and structures. Not full knowledge but, for example, understanding what a cut is as opposed to a deposit or layer. 7) an understanding of scale when drawing
:face-thinks: an understanding of how a matrix works, though not necessarily the experience to draw one.
9) knowledge of the basics of recording cuts, deposits and structures. Not full knowledge but, for example, understanding what a cut is as opposed to a deposit or layer.
10) Basic site formation process:
a)how a posthole is formed, and what the parts are called
b)how stakeholes are formed and why they rarely have cuts
c)how open cut features fill up
d)how walls decay, are robbed out etc
e)treebowls (NEVER boles, that's the trunk) and tree throws
f) the origins of deposits (erosion, floor, fluvial, aeolian etc.)
11) how to set up photographic scale & board, what's supposed to be in a photograph and what not (random buckets, tools, feet), and how to take a picture that isn't blurred, over- or under-exposed
12) lay out a site grid either by tapes, right angle prism, and/ or total station
13) be able to identify different kinds of material culture (pot/ brick/ stone tool) and ROUGHLY place them chronologically (Roman/ Medieval/ Post-Medieval/ from outer space)
14) how to take environmental samples for different types of analysis (bulk for botanics/ charcoal for C14 etc.) and from where
15) use of common/ standardized language when filling in context sheets
16) I would definitely advocate the photographic skills...how to take a useful photograph with a fully manual camera using ranging rods, takes practice.
17)I would also add understanding the difference between a geomorphological feature and an archaeological one
Seriously though, I would suggest teaching people how to approach excavating a site given that in commercial archaeology we are given a percentage of features to excavate. Careful planning and thought first and not digging the hell out of anything that looks like fill and then worrying about it afterwards.
general etiquette for behaving around heavy machinery onsite,
Health and safety training
Being able to dig like a JCB is no use if you're dead at the bottom of a 3 metre-deep unshored section (I won't name the unit, but I was there and they were stupid enough to take working shots). Not unique as I've now seen at least two other units put photos of 2m plus standing sections that have obviously been trowelled/had ranging rods put up against them/got a section line pinned into them into reports. One of them even consisted of 2m of loose brick and concrete rubble overlying colluvium at the botom of a 45% slope.
19) Having some idea what the report will look like aferwards. It often helps in realising why you have to record all that detail.....
b) Follow a process showing the field record, the site archive, how the site archive is used, how illustrations are produced and the report. (a bit of duplication of oldgirls) One thing I often enjoy is understanding the process from start to finish, so if I am in the office I understand the process of how the information was gathered, and if in the field I understand the information the person in the office needs.
having a simple understanding of the whole developer-funded process would be really useful. Like... what is PPG16 and how did it come about? what is a curatorial archaeologist and how does he/she set the brief? what is a desk-based assessment? how do you know where to put the trenches? why is the developer paying for this? who has which powers to say and do what - curator, contractor or client? what is the broader planning framework? what happens next? what happened before? what is competitive tendering?
I think that if graduates were given a far more realistic idea of commercial archaeology, the contracts and conditions you will experience and the difficulties in finding work then they may not be so disheartened and dissilussioned with the proffession quite as quickly.
units should rightfully expect graduates to be aware of the process and the skills involved with a basic understanding of field principles but that full training occurs onsite, at the coalface.
However, back to the main point, it is not fair to educate students and to just leave them high and dry at the end of their studies with little idea of how the next bit works.
ability to laugh at inclement weather,
the ability to obtain next job from new employer with a single phone call,
ready supply of crisps/doughnuts/fags depending on site hut colleagues,
ability to run/fuel/tax/insure a car, pay for rented accommodation, go to pub every night and still pay off that pesky student loan on measly amounts of wages,
a liking for ex-army surplus,
- Bradford University have been running an integrated 9month placement scheme (although many people worked the summers holidays either side as well) in their undergrad courses for years.
CPD⦠why and how
At the end of the day, these are all SKILLS, which take time and practice to develop. If we're all honest, how many of us were decent at everything that came up during our first commercial excavations?
I think most graduates do short or very sporadic excavation during a degree and universities vary widely in their requirements for this. It is probably unreasonable to expect everyone to be adept in all aspects of basic fieldwork following on from a few weeks digging spread thinly over 3 to 4 years. For example, during my degree, but I only ever once got the opportunity to excavate a pit or a posthole, there were either few of these features to go around or it was always walls!
"Gie's a Job.."
Prof. 'Dolly' Parton