13th May 2011, 12:35 PM
P Prentice Wrote:Hi Jack
the last time i dug a cursus ditch and undertook some research it was more than apparent that nobody had actually bothered to dig more than the odd section through one thereby leaving 100s yards completely unknown. you cannot extrapolate anything from such a small sample so i reiterate my contestion (is that a word?) that everything left is still important as it may contain the information we dont yet have. and just cus nobody has chanced upon much between the ditches it dosent mean there is nothing there.
with regard to proving them ritual - i dont see a need and i think that academic theory has moved way beyond worrying about what is ritual and the ritual of what is!
Project Budgets don't work that way. Their just wouldn't be the time or money to excavate hundreds of meters just on the off-chance of finding something. Much better to concentrate money and time on stuff that will hit more research priorities.
As Dino pointed out, there are much more interesting stuff to rescue on the site............Cursus are usually very long, presumably some of the ditches will remain beyond the development after the extraction Dino?
The ritual comment was because job specifications usually work on sample excavation of 100% of ritual features (and sometimes postholes), 50% of settlement related features and 20% or 10% of linears.