Duties of the excavation team

Director

Supervise the dig and maintain site records.

Assistant director

Care and allocation of equipment; financial administration.

Site supervisor

Responsible for a specific section of a site; care of site notebook, labelling of artefacts excavated; recording of all relevant information.

Diggers

Unearth items; clear soil from around artefacts and call in measurers and records.

Recorders

Enter details in a log of artefacts together with their serial number; record the position of objects excavated in a pit, noting the level at which they are found and whether they are part of a feature; send artefacts off to the washers after the measurers have completed their task.

Measurers

Record pit number in which artefacts are found; measure the horizontal distance and depth of artefact as found.

Washers

Wash excavated items.

Sifters

Sift excavated dirt and debris through a screen to located small finds.

Photographers

Record finds and strata profiles.

Surveyors

Survey the site; help draw up and lay out pits.

Laboratory specialists

Preserve and repair artefacts.

Illustrators/draughtspersons

Record artefacts and features through scaled drawing.

Process of excavation

1. An ancient site is discovered.

2. Once the site has been found, plans for its excavation are drawn up

· Map of landscape (topographic map) is made

· Grants to fund excavation are sought

· Permission to excavate is sought from relevant authorities

· Dig team is established, complete with all the relevant experts/specialists etc.

3. Excavation begins

· Surveyors lay out the site using theodolites and measuring sticks – grid system is marked with wooden pegs

· Top soil is removed – baulk (1 metre wide) strip remains in place

· As digging gets deeper, tags are placed on the walls marking different layers and finds made

· All artefacts uncovered are left where they are found (said to be left in situ) until their exact position can be photographed and measured – preserving their context (their relationship with other articles

· All finds from the same layer are removed, washed, tagged, photographed, illustrated and placed in their own labelled tray

· A planimetric map is made of each of the layers or strata (singular – stratum)

4. Finds are studied

· All layers are studied and grouped into periods of occupation

5. Excavation results are published

· After the finds have been studied and dated, the results are published in an excavation report

	Created by ElsienaKate over 11 years ago

	Copied by Tara Young about 8 years ago

Higher School Certificate Ancient History (Topic 1 - Investigating the Past) Note on The Principles of Archaeology , created by Tara Young on 26/08/2017.