The School of Jack

[Dinosaur]

I would let you gob on my hand... but then I have needs... damn it I have needs.

eeerrrrrr....

[Unitof1]

Colour brown inclusions chalk and charcoal flecks and hostys says that you can invent something called a processionalist and prentice wants process and Kevin don't like diffuse and tool thinks filling in a context sheet answers the question was it signed. Seems to me that if you don't see it as .................. You are all full of hotair

[Jack]

For how to measure colour.........look up colorimetry

for instance

here

But PP is right on the nail. Depositional processes are key.......but I think the colour of a deposit is linked to its formation process?

[P Prentice]

...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.

[Dinosaur]

...for instance the number will always change depending on how much charred material is in the sample examined...

Doesn't change the red/yellow ratio, unless I was lied to at school about what constitutes black...but yeah, hardly a good guide in many cases

I'd rather people record how a layer or whatever differs from adjacent layers - had to write up someone's ditch recently where they had 6 fills all of which had identical soil descriptions...no explanation whatsoever as to why they apparently warranted separate context numbers! A few comments like 'mid brown but noticeably darker/sandier/whatever than fill XX below' would be helpful, if only so's less people fall asleep reading about it

[P Prentice]

i have seen entire sites recorded using a single munsell number. i have also, when i thought these things were important, observed that the recording on any given day depends mostly on the weather. on one site i could tell which contexts were recorded during the long dry period, which were recorded when it was raining and which were done therafter despite the ommission of dates on every sheet just by the munsell codes. nowadays i just ignore this useless information unless someone bothers to explain how it was derived.

[Dinosaur]

on one site i could tell which contexts were recorded during the long dry period, which were recorded when it was raining and which were done therafter

Hence the gob-in-hand methodology (the squeamish could use a bottle of water - think BAJR should be using this anyway...), equal moisture content each time


A major EH-financed site that ran for 3 years in the late 80s only ever used 10YR3/3 and 10YR3/4 ... although curiously you could get around 20 sub-shades of the same browns using an assortment of Rowntrees chocolate products - did you know they all had different shades? :face-approve:

[Tool]

So, can I take from this that it's the difference to the contexts around that is important, rather than the absolute colour?

[pdurdin]

... although curiously you could get around 20 sub-shades of the same browns using an assortment of Rowntrees chocolate products - did you know they all had different shades?

Quick Hosty, there's a marketing opportunity here! Rowntrees colour charts! Ingest after use.

[Wax]

So, can I take from this that it's the difference to the contexts around that is important, rather than the absolute colour?

That's how I have always understood it, the difference (and similarities) between the contexts across the site and the stratigraphic relationships. Seems context sheets vary from organisation to organisation so no point in getting hung up on it too much find out what the supervisor wants and provide it.