Day by Day

-
Here are some photos from throughout the week, just a glimpse of the day to day :)

Sunday evening coffee and chats

Our impressive dump pile, and the sifts  
A tag - we make these for all our buckets, chipped stone, material culture etc etc


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

-
Image
Gathering GPR data at Cane Notch, TN. I certainly learned a lot about GPR while in Tennessee! The first day we gathered data, we only did one 20x20 Grid. By our last day, however, we finished four grids in about for hours. Hopefully we will be able to cut the time down a bit more at Shimron, and we will be working full days. The red box is where the antenna are, sending and receiving radio waves. The results show up on the screen which I am carrying. This control is also what we use to start and stop data collection, as well as set certain factors, like how deep we want to record data etc. Today I received my student visa for Israel, which means I am all set to fly in a week! Now if I can finish the mapping assignments due upon arrival, I will be golden. I am glad to have a chance to learn about the land a bit more before going there though, it is an enjoyable assignment!
Read more

In the Field and at Home

-
Image
In the Field Archaeology is sometimes called a 'science of destruction' - an apt name given that once we excavate ancient material you can never put it back just how it was. This is why taking thorough records is imperative. We record measurements, descriptions of soil consistency and composition, elevations, unique numbering etc etc, and take daily notes describing our excavation method and interpretations. Pottery is the primary resource for dating the material we are digging, and to do so accurately we need to record where the pottery is coming from. During excavation, we may have numerous "Units" existing at one time. A Unit is anything from a layer of sediment to a stone wall. We collect pottery from each unit in separately labeled buckets. At Shimron, we use bluetooth printers to create bucket labels. This is a clean system that eliminates all sorts of errors, like bad handwriting, typos and faded or bleeding ink. We print a lot of tags over the course ...
Read more

Winter Wash

-
Image
The Season has begun!  Tomorrow the volunteers arrive, but we've been spending the past three days cleaning up the 'winter wash' (debris accumulated in the excavation area) from the past two years. We also have been hosting local school kids to show them how to excavate etc. It is a good way for the community to be involved in the dig and to feel a part of the excavation. The team enjoying dinner at CafeCafe our first night together. Jack Sheffer, the GIS guy for Grid 92, working atop our dump pile. Goals for this Season My square ("92.97") looks very different than how I left it in 2017. We dug about two meters down in the SE quadrant, but the rest of the square was close to the elevation of topsoil. This was because we discovered the first meter of soil was empty of antiquities. To avoid spending days removing empty dirt, we concentrated on a 5x5 meter portion of the square. In preparation for this year, most the empty fill layer was removed with...
Read more