Tag Archives: paperwork

Our digital era

By Isobel Curwen (Heritage Research Team)

For centuries we have been leaving a written record of our daily lives and when we find evidence of this it is very exciting. Recent excavations in London uncovered a significant collection of Roman waxed writing tablets, some of the earliest hand-written documents found in Britain (for more information visit the MOLA website), and we have even earlier records such as prehistoric cave art and runic writing systems.

Our Finds team are currently analysing some stamped Roman pottery found in Lincolnshire. Mortaria and Samian ware are the most common pottery types to be stamped, although other types of Roman pottery were occasionally stamped too. The stamp could be a name or a word, or sometimes a symbol, possibly suggesting that the potter was illiterate (Read our blog post by Alice for some examples of stamped pottery found in Lincoln). In order to create the impression on the pot, the stamp had to be created in relief and in reverse which requires considerable skill (see how quickly you can spell your own name backwards!).

Stamped mortaria found from Lincoln - see the range of potters marks from symbols to words

Stamped Mortaria found from Lincoln – see the range of potters markings including both symbols and words

Roman grey ware pot base with a pot firing ‘X’ graffito that has been trimmed to form a disc or counter (Photo Credit Hugh Fiske/Ian Rowlandson)

These lovely sherds of stamped pottery have survived for thousands of years and this got us thinking. In today’s digital world what record will we leave of our own lives? Handwritten letters have been replaced by emails and text messages. Digital mapping and GPS render paper maps obsolete, used only when technology fails us or when there is a lack of signal. In our on-site recording of archaeological sites we use a combination of physical and digital recording techniques. With recent advances in archaeological practice suggesting and implementing systems for entirely paperless recording systems (Roosevelt et al. 2015) we are heading in the direction of an almost entirely digital historic record.

It looks like the record we leave about our lives will be less tangible and physical than that of our predecessors. Read the following article for more information on our digital footprints.

Christopher H. Roosevelt, Peter Cobb, Emanuel Moss, Brandon R. Olson &
Sinan Ünlüsoy (2015) Excavation is Destruction Digitization: Advances in Archaeological Practice,
Journal of Field Archaeology, 40:3, 325-346

The Dark Art of Environmental Processing

Bryn Leadbetter, Project Archaeologist, Environmental Processing

In a far-flung corner of Whisby Lodge is a room visited by few. Room 4 (or 9) was once frequented by many. They came then, these folk, in search of tools, but now such utensils of mass earth removal are found elsewhere and there is no longer any reason to venture to this remote outpost. What takes place now in Room 4 (or 9), once likened to a cave, has been described as something akin to alchemy. I like this idea of my work being a dark art and I hesitate to discourage the thought, but in truth no such claim can be made.

In the simplest of terms environmental archaeology is the study of past people’s interaction with their natural environment – we use plant and animal remains to reconstruct ancient environments and farming practices and examine soils, sediments and other suitable deposits to explore how sites are formed. Pollen and isotopes are also studied, and much more still, but, sadly, nothing so wizard-y takes place in Room 4 (or 9).

Bryn floating

The samples of soil that we collect may contain minute/microscopic plant and animal remains that can tell us about the economy and diet of the people who occupied the site, and the natural environment in which they lived. Fragments of pottery, flint and other artefacts may also be present.

To extract these items from the ‘mud’ a water separation system is employed, in a process commonly referred to as flotation. This consists of a number of tanks and connecting pipes around which water is pumped on a continuous cycle, overflowing from one tank to the next. The sample is placed in the first tank onto a submerged 1mm mesh and agitated to break the sediment up and release any eco/arte-facts contained therein. Light material, such as grain, seed, charcoal and shell, will float to the top and is carried by the overflowing water through a 300 micron mesh (1000 micron = 1mm), where it is collected. This material is called the flot. The heavy fraction of bone, flint and pottery along with stones etc. will sink but is captured by the 1mm mesh. This is called the residue. The finest fraction of clay and silt will escape capture and settle to the bottom of the tank. Of course, the overflowing water is instantly dirty and the purpose of the other tanks is to allow as much silt/clay to settle before the as-clean-as-possible water is pumped from the final tank back into tank 1 and the cycle to continues. After drying and bagging the flot is sent to a specialist for analysis. I sort the residue and retrieve any bone, flint, pot and so-forth. A spreadsheet is kept for the documentation of all this activity – and that’s what I do in Room 4 (or 9).

Flot, residue and bagged flot

Left-handedness in the archaeological world

Being left-handed in everyday life can sometimes seem a bit of a chore. While in archaeology, where trowel wear and tear is almost as important as whether there’s enough milk at break for everyone’s tea; it can be infuriating. At this company I know of at least 4 left-handed individuals or southpaws as we are known in the USA. We are the rebels not conforming to the right-handed world view (or so I like to think).

The red-handled trowel is a righty and the wooden-handled trowel is ambidextrous

While being left-handed can be a lovely way to show your individuality (we account for only 10% of the population don’t you know) it can also be a sure fire way to make you feel like an utter failure as a human being. Case and point: tin openers and scissors. Specifically in archaeology being left-handed only affects you when you want to write anything in a notebook as all the best ones are ring-binders (a conspiracy I’m sure). The only way that I can describe this to non-lefties is like trying to write when the tip of your pen is a positive magnet and the paper is also positive. No matter how hard you push that pen it will walk on air for some time before it writes on the paper. Forcing your hand into a strange contortion that makes your already stereotypically bad hand-writing even more illegible.

You may be thinking that we do not HAVE to be buying ring-binder notebooks. This is absolutely correct, however, it solves nothing as all site folders (these contain all the recording paperwork) are ALL ring-binders. As a result I dread that moment when the context list reaches those monstrous metal rings.

As mentioned in the beginning of the blog trowel wear can prove your prowess as an archaeologist on site. Wearing down that first trowel to a pinpoint of useless metal in some circles is a rite of passage. As the trowel wears usually on the side opposite to the handedness of the individual, forgetting your trowel can be a test in patience and tidy trowelling. Thankfully most archaeologists I know are reasonably ambidextrous with their trowels. These are the days that we can masquerade as the 90%.

But don’t despair as left-handers we are considered the more creative of the bunch and have the advantage in any bat/racket-based sports. Being left-handed may have given Neanderthals and humans throughout prehistory an advantage in hand to hand combat. A study looking at tooth marks in Neanderthals conducted by the University of Kansas in 2012 indicate that the majority may have also been right handed, with a small percentage also showing signs of left-handedness (Lozano et al. 2012). We also apparently thrive in violent societies (Faurie et al. 2005). Before the advent of high-powered long range weapons, left-handers had the advantage of the element of surprise in hand to hand combat as most opponents would not be used to facing a left-handed opponent

Another advantage in being left handed is a better ability to multitask and we have a better visual-brain than a language-brain. Making us ideal for drawing (although I wouldn’t check my artefact drawings). It also appears that we are a constant in human history, left-handers will be around for as long as there are right-handers. So please don’t by the right-handed scissors when you know you might have to share, and no more ring binder if you can avoid it. On this final note a Happy International Left Handed Day! I hope this has helped those that do not know us of the 10% understand why being left-handed is rather wonderful (most of the time).

Frayer, D.W, Lozano, M, Bermúdez de Castro, J. M, Carbonell, E. Arsuaga, J. L, Radovčić, J, Fiore, I. & Bondioli, L. 2012. More than 500,000 years of right-handedness in Europeans. Laterality Vol 17 (1) 51-69
Faurie, C. & Raymond, M. 2005. Handedness, homicide and negative frequency-dependant selection. Proceedings of the Royal Society Vol 272 (1558)