Comments on: A Cold End to the Church Dig http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2007/11/07/a-cold-end-to-the-church-dig/ Archaeology Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:34:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Patrick http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2007/11/07/a-cold-end-to-the-church-dig/#comment-1223 Patrick Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:09:24 +0000 http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2007/11/07/a-cold-end-to-the-church-dig/#comment-1223 Brian - nothing wrong with fine grain resolution, but like you said you also need the big picture. I like to open a big hole and then bulk sample everything from some units (i.e do the fine scale analysis in a few areas of the dig). Its also good to have a reason for the fine scale analysis - and you have done some awesome stuff in this area (activity areas in houses). Collecting everything and doing really fine scale analysis just because you are expected to do so, is a waste of time and resources. I also like the typo in your comment - for 'wet' you put 'wept'. I often feel our community volunteers are weeping when we force them to dig in the rain. I am not a big believer in covering digs with tarps - the light for digging is terrible, photographs are ugly, and the wind always blows the things apart anyway. One year it rained so hard we had to bale the housepit every couple of hours. We used the water to wet screen! Patrick Brian - nothing wrong with fine grain resolution, but like you said you also need the big picture. I like to open a big hole and then bulk sample everything from some units (i.e do the fine scale analysis in a few areas of the dig). Its also good to have a reason for the fine scale analysis - and you have done some awesome stuff in this area (activity areas in houses). Collecting everything and doing really fine scale analysis just because you are expected to do so, is a waste of time and resources.

I also like the typo in your comment - for ‘wet’ you put ‘wept’. I often feel our community volunteers are weeping when we force them to dig in the rain. I am not a big believer in covering digs with tarps - the light for digging is terrible, photographs are ugly, and the wind always blows the things apart anyway. One year it rained so hard we had to bale the housepit every couple of hours. We used the water to wet screen!

Patrick

]]> By: Brian http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2007/11/07/a-cold-end-to-the-church-dig/#comment-1221 Brian Thu, 08 Nov 2007 00:08:11 +0000 http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2007/11/07/a-cold-end-to-the-church-dig/#comment-1221 Hey Patrick - I also was breaking my students in for digging on Kodiak when we worked through the rains in early October. I've seen enough of your field photographs to know that a little bit of rain never kept your crews from their excavations. My students didn't really seem to mind getting wept. I kept telling them we're doing this for science. They can take an English literature class if they want to stay comfortable. Great analogy about digging and pixels. As you know, I'm one of those "high resolution" archaeologists. I may not zoom down to the micromorphology level, but I do like analyzing the little stuff. You're absolutely right, though, that we need the big picture or the details have no meaning. We need a big dig at the church site just so we can deal with our unstable walls. I think we could relatively easily open up a large block - maybe even use a backhoe to remove the fill. I'd really like to have another chance to see what's left inside the church. Hey Patrick - I also was breaking my students in for digging on Kodiak when we worked through the rains in early October. I’ve seen enough of your field photographs to know that a little bit of rain never kept your crews from their excavations. My students didn’t really seem to mind getting wept. I kept telling them we’re doing this for science. They can take an English literature class if they want to stay comfortable.

Great analogy about digging and pixels. As you know, I’m one of those “high resolution” archaeologists. I may not zoom down to the micromorphology level, but I do like analyzing the little stuff. You’re absolutely right, though, that we need the big picture or the details have no meaning.

We need a big dig at the church site just so we can deal with our unstable walls. I think we could relatively easily open up a large block - maybe even use a backhoe to remove the fill. I’d really like to have another chance to see what’s left inside the church.

]]> By: Patrick http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2007/11/07/a-cold-end-to-the-church-dig/#comment-1220 Patrick Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:33:39 +0000 http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2007/11/07/a-cold-end-to-the-church-dig/#comment-1220 Brian - it looks like you are breaking the students in for digging in the arctic. Only in the arctic there is no warm lab. Some snow and a little rain, fog and you'd be there. Frozen ground that you have to wait on to thaw would be a nice touch. Maybe you should open up a big hole in late March? Must say I like big holes myself. I always equate a dig to a digital picture. You only have so many pixels - all you can do is change the resolution and size of the picture. Fine scale, high resolution and you can only look at part of the picture (say the tip of a nose on a face). Low res and you can examine the whole face, but it looks like an impressionist painting. But at least with the low res you can see that you got a face. Too often archaeologists dig so fine they have no idea what they got. Dig big and you see the houses! Finally - it is pretty cool that the basement is still undisturbed. I'd say that is a HUGE discovery. Patrick Brian - it looks like you are breaking the students in for digging in the arctic. Only in the arctic there is no warm lab. Some snow and a little rain, fog and you’d be there. Frozen ground that you have to wait on to thaw would be a nice touch. Maybe you should open up a big hole in late March?

Must say I like big holes myself. I always equate a dig to a digital picture. You only have so many pixels - all you can do is change the resolution and size of the picture. Fine scale, high resolution and you can only look at part of the picture (say the tip of a nose on a face). Low res and you can examine the whole face, but it looks like an impressionist painting. But at least with the low res you can see that you got a face. Too often archaeologists dig so fine they have
no idea what they got. Dig big and you see the houses!

Finally - it is pretty cool that the basement is still undisturbed. I’d say that is a HUGE discovery.

Patrick

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