19th June 2013, 01:24 PM
Lesson 7 'Clean up your loose'[SIZE=2]
This used to be (but is still on some sites) the call that heralds the five minute warning for a break or that it's time to pack up and go home.
The call was a signal for those digging to get rid of the last of any spoil in or around their slot and to empty and buckets/ barrows. If it was a call for a break, it was also traditional to place any tools in a neat pile and cover their 'heads' with an upturned wheel barrow (if you have one) and upturn any buckets etc.
This tradition was not some form of ritual behaviour, but one of function, primarily weather related. When rained on, loose spoil turns into a variety of troublesome slops. A wheel barrow or bucket of clayey slop is no fun and can be dangerous to move/ empty. A chalky or sandy slop makes a great outwash/ trample deposit that can hide any feature.
So any satellite dumps of loose get trampled by boots to form new layers, and those troublesome halo's of spoil spread to form unexcavated roundhouses, and barrows on the final area photographs. Or worse still, hide actual features/ relationships.
Keeping tools under cover during breaks helps them last longer; but also a tidy site is a safe site. Avoid those comedy cartoon moments with mud encrusted hoes hiding in loose spoil slop, only to be trodden on and fly up into someones waiting nose.
On a commercial site, it is often up to the diggers to manage their own timekeeping and hence their own cleaning up of loose. Learn the lessons of the past and clear up/ tidy up your spoil!
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This used to be (but is still on some sites) the call that heralds the five minute warning for a break or that it's time to pack up and go home.
The call was a signal for those digging to get rid of the last of any spoil in or around their slot and to empty and buckets/ barrows. If it was a call for a break, it was also traditional to place any tools in a neat pile and cover their 'heads' with an upturned wheel barrow (if you have one) and upturn any buckets etc.
This tradition was not some form of ritual behaviour, but one of function, primarily weather related. When rained on, loose spoil turns into a variety of troublesome slops. A wheel barrow or bucket of clayey slop is no fun and can be dangerous to move/ empty. A chalky or sandy slop makes a great outwash/ trample deposit that can hide any feature.
So any satellite dumps of loose get trampled by boots to form new layers, and those troublesome halo's of spoil spread to form unexcavated roundhouses, and barrows on the final area photographs. Or worse still, hide actual features/ relationships.
Keeping tools under cover during breaks helps them last longer; but also a tidy site is a safe site. Avoid those comedy cartoon moments with mud encrusted hoes hiding in loose spoil slop, only to be trodden on and fly up into someones waiting nose.
On a commercial site, it is often up to the diggers to manage their own timekeeping and hence their own cleaning up of loose. Learn the lessons of the past and clear up/ tidy up your spoil!
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