21st May 2007, 10:56 AM
Interesting post Beamo.
What would you say were the advantages of 'multi-context plans and phased excavation', (on any kind of site)?
1) For my money, multi-context plans don't record the intersection of two ditches as well as single context, let alone anything more complex.
2) Although I've read reports, I don't recall ever attempting to dig a site by phases. It is surely a process involving considerable a priori assumptions. Apart from better photos and perhaps a greater (not necessarily more accurate) impression of the site you are digging while you are digging it, what advantages are there to phased excavation?
3) Regarding the reduction of diggers to the role of technicians, well, that's what the interpretation box at the bottom of the context sheet is for. Some people write an essay, some people just write 'pit', but it's there for all your musings (you can tell a lot about a unit from its context sheets, and the size of the interpretation box is the first thing I look at).
4) I didn't work with with Framework Archaeology so I couldn't judge its success, but an excess of a priori assumptions, and their subsequent use in formulating excavation strategy, was one of the comments I heard more than once from participants. The idea was to concentrate resources on the important stuff, but how can one tell before it has been excavated, and is this just a way of justifying not paying to excavate some of the features? Perhaps this was just tea-hut grumblings of old lags; I'm sure it's a very partisan view. If you have a more rounded perspective on the advantages and disadvantages of the project I'd be very glad to hear it.
What would you say were the advantages of 'multi-context plans and phased excavation', (on any kind of site)?
1) For my money, multi-context plans don't record the intersection of two ditches as well as single context, let alone anything more complex.
2) Although I've read reports, I don't recall ever attempting to dig a site by phases. It is surely a process involving considerable a priori assumptions. Apart from better photos and perhaps a greater (not necessarily more accurate) impression of the site you are digging while you are digging it, what advantages are there to phased excavation?
3) Regarding the reduction of diggers to the role of technicians, well, that's what the interpretation box at the bottom of the context sheet is for. Some people write an essay, some people just write 'pit', but it's there for all your musings (you can tell a lot about a unit from its context sheets, and the size of the interpretation box is the first thing I look at).
4) I didn't work with with Framework Archaeology so I couldn't judge its success, but an excess of a priori assumptions, and their subsequent use in formulating excavation strategy, was one of the comments I heard more than once from participants. The idea was to concentrate resources on the important stuff, but how can one tell before it has been excavated, and is this just a way of justifying not paying to excavate some of the features? Perhaps this was just tea-hut grumblings of old lags; I'm sure it's a very partisan view. If you have a more rounded perspective on the advantages and disadvantages of the project I'd be very glad to hear it.