Just realized cataloging a single trench can take a full week

I was helping on a dig in New Mexico last fall, and we hit a dense layer of pottery shards and charcoal. The lead archaeologist said 'this is a good one, should be quick.' It took us five full days just to map, photograph, and bag everything from that one 2x2 meter square. We had to log over 300 individual finds, and the charcoal samples needed special handling. I thought field work was mostly digging, but the paperwork is the real beast. Has anyone else been totally thrown by how long proper documentation takes on a 'simple' feature?

3 comments

3 Comments

gray_walker492mo agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, that hits home. We had a pit feature that looked straightforward until we started peeling it back. What saved us was setting up a super strict routine right from the first trowel scrape. One person only took photos with the scale and north arrow, another did the drawings, and a third handled the tags and bags. Rotating jobs kept people from burning out. Trying to do it all at once just made a mess.

ellis.victor2mo ago

Yeah, "trying to do it all at once just made a mess" is the understatement of the century. I've seen people try to photo, draw, and bag a unit solo and it looks like a toddler's art project by the end. The tags end up in the wrong bag, the scale is a trowel instead of a ruler, and the drawing has a mystery stain on it. Your rotation idea is the only way to not lose your mind.

the_robin1mo ago

Joke about being the guy who caused the mess before I got smart. I was that person on my first dig. Thought I could handle everything by myself. Ended up with a photo of a trowel that looked like a giant spatula and a bag with three different trench numbers on it. My drawing looked like a six-year-old's map to a buried treasure that didn't exist. Now I just stick to one job at a time and let someone else screw up the tags.