14th October 2014, 12:57 PM
Marc Berger Wrote:Shirley without excavation there is no archaeological resource. The curators and geophysics are putting horse before cart when they use evaluation to find archaeology and geophysics pretends to be evaluation.
Depends on the geophysical results
Marc Berger Wrote:Diggers rates of pay are very much based in "excavation". Its probably where they get their introduction to field archaeology and where experience of pay and conditions are formulated. On average what does the industry expect out of digging -one feature or three a day and would you cost that on a rate or price.
1-1.5 tons a day of muck shifted was the rate when I was trained. Assuming denisty of muck is 1-1.2g/cm[SUP]3[/SUP], i.e. 1mx1mx1m
Marc Berger Wrote:So without an evaluation (the answer will not involves algebra), if you set out on an expedition to the hinterland land of excavation how many diggers would you take with you, what rate of pay would you be willing to pay them, how long would you expect them to tell their families that they would be away for and where would you locate the site hut?
Semantics you can evaluate (work out how much it will cost) without an evaluation (trial-trenching) especially when you have dug next to the new site before.