14th April 2009, 05:18 PM
I did think of trying to get into 'total archaeology' once... whereby you explode a very large bomb in the centre of a site (preferrably an urban one*). Following detonation, the site is instantly 'trowelled', with the finds nicely sorted and organised... the youngest (and lightest) ones being furthest away from the crater and the oldest ones (often heavier) being nearer the crater rim. There would be a direct correlation between date of site with the distance away from the explosion epicentre. No nasty stratigraphy to laboriously dig through (everything is instantly available to view). The site would take literally minutes to do, it would provide a ready-dug (cleaned) site for prospective developers, there would be no in-situ preservation mitigation and it would negate the need for on-site archaeologists as well (thereby cutting down on site costs).
Furthermore, if it was a nuclear explosion... the site would have to be cordoned off (for say 50 years) so that nasty post-ex and recording / report writing thing could wait a while - unless radiation suits are kindly provided by HS (along with lead-lined boots).
"I hope one day chickens will be able to cross the road without having their motives questioned" Anon
Furthermore, if it was a nuclear explosion... the site would have to be cordoned off (for say 50 years) so that nasty post-ex and recording / report writing thing could wait a while - unless radiation suits are kindly provided by HS (along with lead-lined boots).
"I hope one day chickens will be able to cross the road without having their motives questioned" Anon