3 - Techniques of archaeological excavation

Abstract

This chapter discusses the techniques of archaeological excavation. It is seen as one of the more recent forms of that passion, and the history of excavation methods reflects the changing attitudes of successive generations about what should be considered a valuable object. There are two processes of excavation, namely, the arbitrary and the stratigraphic. Arbitrary excavation is the summary removal of soil by any possible means, or its controlled excavation in measured levels of a predetermined thickness. In stratigraphic excavation, the archaeological deposits are removed in conformity with their individual shapes and contours and in the reverse sequence to that in which they were laid down. Either of these processes is used with any of the several different strategies. The two systems are independent, and the presence of a tidy set of trenches on an excavation is no indication of the process used by the excavator within those areas. Since the excavation is a sample of the past taken from within those areas, the process of excavation is of far more importance than the strategy. The process of stratigraphic excavation should be employed where archaeological layers and features can be recognized in the stratification of a site. In other instances, the units of stratification may not be recognizable and the arbitrary process of measured spits may be used. The interpretations based on the results of excavation areas dug in spits must be treated, however, with considerable skepticism, in any stratigraphic analysis.