Lesson 5 The mattock vs the trowel[SIZE=2]
The mattock is a versatile digging tool, it's weight and the leverage created by the shaft and how it is held (oo er Kevin) can aid the practitioner in breaking up even the toughest of clays. More importantly, the mattock can be used for finer work by holding it nearer the head.....using a careful legs spread stance with the shaft between your legs. With most features, (though not the smaller pits, post- and stakeholes and beam slots etc), the majority of the fill can be removed with just a mattock and shovel. The mattock can even be used, with practice, for a rough clean of larger features.
The trowel and hand shovel should only be used for the finishing touches, the final clean and those annoying crevasses.
This is not only best for efficiency (see lesson 6), but for health reasons. The trowel has little weight behind it, if it is used to dig, the majority of the work is done by the practitioners wrist, arm and shoulder muscles. When digging with a mattock a large proportion of the work is done by gravity and the momentum of the tool, but also by the practitioners upper arm, upper and lower torso and leg muscles. These muscles are much better suited for providing the power needed to dig. Excessive digging with a trowel results in tendonitis and wrist injury.
Inexperienced archaeologists often find this difficult at first, the mattock is often seen as an imprecise digging tool and constant 'checking of the edges' with a trowel result in too much of the feature being dug with a trowel. Some feel the mattock as being too heavy for them to use correctly and safely. Careful instruction on how to control the mattock by a variety of grips should be given. Remember Lesson 1.......'[/SIZE]everyone can try. It is through trying that we get better, it is through hard work our bodies become adapted to the job.'
Those who see digging with a trowel and avoiding using a mattock as ways of slacking are not only making sure the archaeology suffers, they are also harming themselves.
'Why have you both got trowels in your hands? Put them down. Pick up your mattocks and start digging!'
- Cider Pat (The machine)
[SIZE=2]
[/SIZE]
The mattock is a versatile digging tool, it's weight and the leverage created by the shaft and how it is held (oo er Kevin) can aid the practitioner in breaking up even the toughest of clays. More importantly, the mattock can be used for finer work by holding it nearer the head.....using a careful legs spread stance with the shaft between your legs. With most features, (though not the smaller pits, post- and stakeholes and beam slots etc), the majority of the fill can be removed with just a mattock and shovel. The mattock can even be used, with practice, for a rough clean of larger features.
The trowel and hand shovel should only be used for the finishing touches, the final clean and those annoying crevasses.
This is not only best for efficiency (see lesson 6), but for health reasons. The trowel has little weight behind it, if it is used to dig, the majority of the work is done by the practitioners wrist, arm and shoulder muscles. When digging with a mattock a large proportion of the work is done by gravity and the momentum of the tool, but also by the practitioners upper arm, upper and lower torso and leg muscles. These muscles are much better suited for providing the power needed to dig. Excessive digging with a trowel results in tendonitis and wrist injury.
Inexperienced archaeologists often find this difficult at first, the mattock is often seen as an imprecise digging tool and constant 'checking of the edges' with a trowel result in too much of the feature being dug with a trowel. Some feel the mattock as being too heavy for them to use correctly and safely. Careful instruction on how to control the mattock by a variety of grips should be given. Remember Lesson 1.......'[/SIZE]everyone can try. It is through trying that we get better, it is through hard work our bodies become adapted to the job.'
Those who see digging with a trowel and avoiding using a mattock as ways of slacking are not only making sure the archaeology suffers, they are also harming themselves.
'Why have you both got trowels in your hands? Put them down. Pick up your mattocks and start digging!'
- Cider Pat (The machine)
[SIZE=2]
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