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The School of Jack - Jack - 16th July 2013
Lesson 9 Drawing is an art........ but also a science[SIZE=2]
In commercial archaeology, the practitioner will often be left to draw a section and plan their intervention with little or no input from a supervisor.
Like photography, drawing of sections and plans is important as these form the bulk of the archive that will be deposited for future generations to pour over. On many commercial sites once an area is planned it is released to the client for destruction.
It is vitally important that sections and plans are accurate representations of what you have dug and not a quick hand sketch of what you think is there or an artists impression of what a ditch, pit, hearth...etc should be.
It takes time, practice and training to become adept at section/ plan drawing. Some people are naturally better at it, but everyone can/ should do it. No lesson can replace practical experience but here are a few pointers......
Learn from those around you. If someone produces better drawings than you, ask nicely how they do it.
Keep your pencil sharp. A sharp pencil keeps your drawings neat.
If drawing a dash or dot-dash line keep the gaps between dashes small, big gaps make a drawing look messy and reduces accuracy.
Each section/ plan is a scale drawing. Once completed stand back from what you were drawing and see if it looks anything like what you have drawn. If not, something has gone wrong.
There should be no rulers used. Nature abhors a straight line. Unless of course you are drawing something that was cut/built exactly straight.
Don't EVER join your measured dots with straight lines...this is not join the dots.
Measure enough points, preferably where the 'line/edge/interface' you are drawing changes direction to sketch in a smooth line between.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]Each plan is a scale drawing. You can check your final drawing by measuring the length of stones/edges or distances/sections that[/SIZE] run at angles to your grid on the ground then see if they are the same length on your drawing.
Inaccuracies in the grid make inaccuracies in your drawings. Measure the grid three times, draw once.
Check your section against your plan! it should be the same width, depth, length and shape on both.
With deposits, draw what you see. Detail stones, worm holes, lumps of re-deposited natural etc etc. The more detail the easier the interpretation. Sometimes a weirdly shaped interface between deposits is an indicator of something important e.g. backfilling, slumping, re-cutting etc.
Any drawing requires interpretation of what you are looking at. Interpretation takes time and experience. Get several people to look at your section/area and ask what they see...'borrow their eyes'. Experienced eyes are tuned into the indicators of formation processes.
The School of Jack - pdurdin - 16th July 2013
Jack Wrote:[SIZE=2]Don't EVER join your measured dots with straight lines...this is not join the dots.[/SIZE]What if they're all in a row with no variation? :face-huh:
The School of Jack - BAJR - 16th July 2013
Quote:[SIZE=2]Don't EVER join your measured dots with straight lines...this is not join the dots.[/SIZE]
Damn right !!!
The School of Jack - kevin wooldridge - 16th July 2013
By a strange coincidence I was thinking about the art of archaeological drawing out on site today as I measured in structure no 1000+ with the robotic total station......is it a dying art?
I don't disagree with anything Jack has said on the subject (those are the skills acquired in my youth), but on the last 3 or 4 commercial projects I have been involved with in the UK and all of my work here in Norway, the amount of pencil to paper or pencil to film drawing has been minimal.....of course there are other skills involved. Drawn plans and profiles from rectified and geo-referenced photographs for example, but not so much for the on-site digger to be involved with at the section-face. Also hear colleagues whispering about the introduction of what I call the 'etch a sketch' revolution - user interface combined with digital data capture on Palm Pilots/I-pads and the like. Of course there will always be folk who prefer manual drawing (and sketching), but is it such a vital skill as it once was and can the ever increasing 'efficiency' of commercial archaeology justify such 'out-dated' techniques?
The School of Jack - BAJR - 17th July 2013
Quote:but is it such a vital skill as it once was and can the ever increasing 'efficiency' of commercial archaeology justify such 'out-dated' techniques?
simple answer is yes... it is cheaper and more accurate. ( it allows for the human touch... oh it will change. but I would remid you of that bit of Roman track I drew when I visited Birdoswold. I would trust my pencil stone by stone over a robotic station drawing
lets not forget that it is also horses for courses. - however I have just taught a 2 day survey course. starting at trig, taped survey, plane table before getting to Total Station and GPS. what we don't need now is a monkey that can push a button. we need skilled staff who know why they push the button. and what to do when the button says no signal ....
The School of Jack - Unitof1 - 17th July 2013
if your an archaeologist what's wrong with the back of an envelope and the statement, with variations on the theme ,of a load stones probably a tract possibly roman. No drawing required.
The School of Jack - barkingdigger - 17th July 2013
kevin wooldridge Wrote:but is it such a vital skill as it once was and can the ever increasing 'efficiency' of commercial archaeology justify such 'out-dated' techniques?
Bear in mind the current crop of "techies" pushing the development of digital drawing, TST/GPS capture, GIS databases etc are all skilled veterans of the Pencil Era. They already know what to record, how many dots to use, how to check accuracy etc because they've had to do the mental gymnastics in the old days. I've run across folk who assume the "magic box" can do all the thinking, so three points round the edge can obviously create a great drawing of a complex pit! The new tech could replace pencils (and paper CXT forms) with lots of added benefits, but only with extensive training so noobs can learn the whys and wherefores of recording that us "old lags" take as second-nature.
The School of Jack - barkingdigger - 17th July 2013
Unitof1 Wrote:if your an archaeologist what's wrong with the back of an envelope and the statement, with variations on the theme ,of a load stones probably a tract possibly roman. No drawing required.
Everything.
The School of Jack - Unitof1 - 17th July 2013
Have you ever tried drawing what ever it is that you imagine that you can see there and then adding dots afterwards to make it look like you measured it. Its extremely accurate, fast and produces a very neat drawing.
The School of Jack - Jack - 17th July 2013
pdurdin Wrote:What if they're all in a row with no variation? :face-huh:
Draw what you see