Just a couple of pendantisms..........sorry, I can't help myself
Q1 '.........an initial investigation research design.' Do you mean the research design (method statement or WSI - written scheme of Investigation - in the commercial world) of an initial investigation e.g. DBA, walkover, field walking, trial trenching. Or the initial WSI for an excavation?
am guessing its the second!
Q4 depends on how much soil is in the feature/ what the sample is for bulk, dating, finds retrieval, small bones retrieval, OSL profiling, etc etc (see current guidelines)
Q7 always depends on the project and the findings! And can be different if you mean the final report for the client or a publication.
For Q8 and 9, in my opinion (and just mine), I think your on the wrong track. You can't (and shouldn't) have a single strategy for ALL archaeological work. However, guidelines for different types of interventions would be very useful as long as they are robust enough.
Also, (again my opinion) there is no such thing as random sampling in archaeology - nor should there be. It was a product of archaeologists misunderstanding the difference between fundamental and applied mathematics.
and the majority of the questions depend on what type of project. Strategies are very different for say upland survey of peat hags, monitoring a pipe trench, building survey, trial trenching, excavation etc etc. Even during an excavation the sampling strategy can (and should) change depending on the date and nature of the remains, you can often have several different sampling strategies on the same site if its big enough. Think a large excavation encompassing a Neolithic structure, mesolithic waterlogged midden, early Bronze Age buried soil, a late Bronze Age metalworking area, Roman field system, an Anglo-Saxon graveyard, medieval ridge and furrow and a part upstanding early post-med farmhouse.
would you use the same sampling strategy in all of the areas?
Saying all that, I did the survey and good work! Far too little understanding and discussion goes on about environmental/ date sampling amongst commercial archaeologists! :face-approve:
Oh and I noticed you have a middle option.........from what I remember form when I was at Uni eons ago its better to have an even number of options to force people to choose rather than opting for the easy middle option.....could be wrong though.
Q1 '.........an initial investigation research design.' Do you mean the research design (method statement or WSI - written scheme of Investigation - in the commercial world) of an initial investigation e.g. DBA, walkover, field walking, trial trenching. Or the initial WSI for an excavation?
am guessing its the second!
Q4 depends on how much soil is in the feature/ what the sample is for bulk, dating, finds retrieval, small bones retrieval, OSL profiling, etc etc (see current guidelines)
Q7 always depends on the project and the findings! And can be different if you mean the final report for the client or a publication.
For Q8 and 9, in my opinion (and just mine), I think your on the wrong track. You can't (and shouldn't) have a single strategy for ALL archaeological work. However, guidelines for different types of interventions would be very useful as long as they are robust enough.
Also, (again my opinion) there is no such thing as random sampling in archaeology - nor should there be. It was a product of archaeologists misunderstanding the difference between fundamental and applied mathematics.
and the majority of the questions depend on what type of project. Strategies are very different for say upland survey of peat hags, monitoring a pipe trench, building survey, trial trenching, excavation etc etc. Even during an excavation the sampling strategy can (and should) change depending on the date and nature of the remains, you can often have several different sampling strategies on the same site if its big enough. Think a large excavation encompassing a Neolithic structure, mesolithic waterlogged midden, early Bronze Age buried soil, a late Bronze Age metalworking area, Roman field system, an Anglo-Saxon graveyard, medieval ridge and furrow and a part upstanding early post-med farmhouse.
would you use the same sampling strategy in all of the areas?
Saying all that, I did the survey and good work! Far too little understanding and discussion goes on about environmental/ date sampling amongst commercial archaeologists! :face-approve:
Oh and I noticed you have a middle option.........from what I remember form when I was at Uni eons ago its better to have an even number of options to force people to choose rather than opting for the easy middle option.....could be wrong though.