19th May 2008, 06:47 PM
Posted by BAJR Host:
Investigating artefact distribution throughout the plougsoil thickness is very time-consuming and expensive relative to the quantity/usefulness of the data retrieved, so under most UK circumstances it needs a special reason to justify it.
However, one good compromise that can be applied at times, in several variants depending on the nature and circumstances of the project, is to do intensive fieldwalking/metal detecting on the excavation area, with good 2-D positional recording; mechanically strip; then fieldwalk and metal detect again before hand-cleaning, planning and starting to excavate features.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
Quote:quote:do you think we (in the UK) are missing something by not looking closer at topsoil distributionPossibly we are, although there were a number of quite large-scale experiments in the '80s that investigated plough-soil archaeology with results that did not really justify the cost (e.g. an EH/Wessex project in the environs of Stonehenge). People like Colin Haselgrove have also published on this topic.
Investigating artefact distribution throughout the plougsoil thickness is very time-consuming and expensive relative to the quantity/usefulness of the data retrieved, so under most UK circumstances it needs a special reason to justify it.
However, one good compromise that can be applied at times, in several variants depending on the nature and circumstances of the project, is to do intensive fieldwalking/metal detecting on the excavation area, with good 2-D positional recording; mechanically strip; then fieldwalk and metal detect again before hand-cleaning, planning and starting to excavate features.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished