28th December 2005, 03:14 PM
Quote:quote:ie.... can any archaeolgoists explain why stripping the topsoil with a JCB is not bad practice..... but removing artecats from same topsoil is.
I covered this in an earlier post. I think both are acceptable in most cases. Are there any archs out there who feel differently?
But how do you stop at the base of the topsoil? Archs are trained to do it, by recognizing the differences in deposits. What about aretefact hunters/MD's? If they can't/won't stop at this boundary then the instinctual response by the arch is to demand archaeological level recording for artefacts removed from the topsoil as well. It's not likely to happen.
So the real question is how do responsible artefact hunters/MD's limit themselves to the topsoil and leave undisturbed the stratigraphy below? Education? Enforcement?
Is it something the responsible artefact hunters/MD's are even willing to do?