6th August 2013, 12:59 PM
Jack Wrote:...but I think the colour of a deposit is linked to its formation process?might be linked but we will never know for sure jack. might be entirely coincidental and given the vagaries of recording on any site, should not be taken litterally at any point.
most people take one tiny sample and by some arcane process of elimination (including spittle, grubby fingers and poor light) arrive at a number on a munsell chart. most defined contexts vary enormously in any given section/plan/deposit/fill or whatever you want to call whatever you are trying to record and no two excavators see the same colour. for instance the number will always change depending on how much charred material is in the sample examined and that will vary even in the same so-called context. the colour is not sufficiently important to account for all these variables. we have laboured far too long using borrowed science in the vainglorious belief that it will improve interpretation.
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers