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Here you can read a few extracts of log books that students have to keep. It will give you an idea what you can expect whilst you are in the field.
Excavation on sites
'Spent day at Dibbs Site - started off taking readings using EDM so that a ... plan could be produced of the site. After lunch I worked on unit A and excavated section A3 to level 8 and then to level 9. In the first two levels that I excavated a piece of chert and a piece of charcoal was found.' (Andrew Newton, 1999)
'I have been moved to the Y block (site A). I am starting to get a better understanding as to how all of the pieces that I have been learning fit together. I worked on 3 units today and really did not find all that much. In unit B3 I found what is called a burin spall. Randy showed me where, on the piece it had been "worked".' (Nick Hirt, 2000)
'At the Clay pipe field site Zoe and I laid the strings out on Block X. I then deturfed unit B2 .... Then I dug down to level 10 from level 5. I went through an A Horizon of loam and I almost got through the B Horizon of Gravel. Zoe took over the excavaton for that hole. Helen and I drew the eastern wall and the northern wall of und D/B1. I measured the points and she drew them in.' (Tony Buonodono, 2001)
'Today I was again at Caton Barn Site block A/A2. I started excavating at level 17 down to 80cm. I did not find anything in level 17 but while excavating level 18 of A2 I came across a worn but discernable piece of core (chert) and what could be a flake. These discoveries were in order with all the other finds on this site, as they were just below the gravel and into the larger boulders.' (Mason Anderson, 2001)
Transect survey
'Out on transect survey again today. We completed two transects today, T59 and T34. I was on range pole duty; lining up the poles an marking the pits at 50m intervals fro T59. Once that was completed, two people did walkover survey and the rest began to dig the test pits. We began the next transect line further north in the field from T59. I was given the map and compass and successfully navigated us to the site of point zero for T34. After lining up the first poles for the transect line due east from point zero, I switched over to walkoer survey. I recorded the topography, vegetation, gradient and any archaeological features, as well as the distnace along the transect which they occcurred. After the walkover was complete, we set about digging out the test pits. Nothing was found on T34, but a few interesting stones were bagged on T59.' (Leah Merz, 1998)
'Today I did a transect survey with a group of others. The transect was numbemr 70. All test pits wer 50 meters apart. We had started from the north. For each one, we 1st made sure it was 50cm all around. Next we removed the turf. We then began to sieve through the dirt. Anything of interest that was found was placed in a small bag which was labeled. We really only found chert and that was at our 1st test pit. Next we dug down about 3cm (or until we hit bedrock). Next, we took a sample o sieved soil, for the lab, which we placed in a bag. We then put all the dirt back into the pit and we then put the turf back onto it. Next we filled out paperwork having to do with our test pit.' (Anna Bodley, 1999)
Chapel Cave and cave survey
'My first day at the cave was on of the best days I've had since being here. We packed our wet sievig bottles and drove down to the cave. We then looked over the site and decided that there was a large boulder in E8 and D8 that needed to be moved. Both levels were down around the 130cm mark and progress was halted by the boulder. Dr. Donahue and Ian then decided that beaking up the boulder was the best course of action ... but it it became clear that our efforts wern't going to be enough. After lunch Robin an myself successfully dropped Pits E8 and D8 10cm and found a few flakes in the bargin.' (Michel Bohner, 1998)
'Cave day. I volunteered this morning to go on a cave survey with Ian and Adrian. When we got to the location we parked and walked to were we could got a better understanding of the location of the cave. The red flags were flying and we knew that we would not be accessing the cave from this direction. After quite a bit of comtimplation we decided that the best thing to do was to not try that particular cave but rather find a different location all together. The first cave that we were looking for was in part a mine shaft. We looked for a good deal of time but could not locate the mine shaft. After dinner we reversed the book and the map and decided that we were simply in the wrong place. The head of the shaft had been caped off with a concreet slap and their was only a small metal hole that had a lid on it. Ian put the range pole down to get a feel for the size of the cave opening and then took a few pictures of it.' (Nick Hirt, 2000)
Field lab
'Washing artefacts. After field work has gone on for a few days, lab work begins. Artefacts that were collected in the field are first washed up int the lab. Cataloguing artefacts. Once the artefacts are cleaned they are assigned a number and placed in smaller individual bags. Then, they are looked at one by one and information is logged on a cataloguing sheet.' (Erin Salisbury, 2000)
'Today I am doing flotation with Rachel. First we filled the flotation tank with the "filling" hose pipe, with some mesh pined onto the inside of the tank. We put the flotation sample in this mesh and agitated it so the sediment would fall through the mesh, the material larger than 0.1mm would be held in the mesh. Meanwhile some muslin is peged around a smal sive which is held under the overflow and collects the organics in the flotation sample. We got through 16 bucketsof flotation sample, I was doing this with Chris and Joe.' (Helena Beak, 2001)
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