Mouse Teeth and Roman Coins
It's not easy, this archaeology thing. Not that Emily ever thought it would be. They're also known for being a bit out of the ordinary, archaeologists: ferociously intelligent and decidedly quirky. She fits right in.
In amongst all the being ferociously intelligent and discussing theories about the development of mankind, there is quite a lot of digging in mud.
It's not like it often seems on television where they arrive at some random bit of field, dig for ten minutes and hey presto! A Roman villa with extensive mosaics and a hoard of Roman coins.
No, the archaeologists and students dig in trenches in the British weather, which is very good at being Too Cold, Too Hot, Too Wet and Too Windy and not so good at being Perfect Weather for Digging.
Then best bits of mud are chosen and taken back to the lab for further analysis. How do they choose which are the best bits? A qualified archaeologist who knows about such things chooses them, that's how.
(I know this might be considered rather a simplified version, Emily, but I'm doing my best here).
The Best Bits of Mud are then baked in an oven, because this makes the Best Bits of Mud more crumbly and more likely to fall off whatever's concealed in them. If, by any chance, the mud contains a silver goblet or King John's Crown Jewels, it's pretty likely that the team will have noticed this by now.
But generally, the finds aren't so obvious. So the mud has to be sieved. There are different sizes of sieve. Firstly, ten millimetres for the really huge stuff. Then it's sieved again, five millimetres this time. Then two millimetres. Then one millimetre.
Here's a photo that Emily took of the Sieved Bits. On the right is a pencil, so you can see the size.
They find a lot of mouse teeth, says Emily, and they are very sharp.
It's all glamour, archaeology.
In amongst all the being ferociously intelligent and discussing theories about the development of mankind, there is quite a lot of digging in mud.
It's not like it often seems on television where they arrive at some random bit of field, dig for ten minutes and hey presto! A Roman villa with extensive mosaics and a hoard of Roman coins.
No, the archaeologists and students dig in trenches in the British weather, which is very good at being Too Cold, Too Hot, Too Wet and Too Windy and not so good at being Perfect Weather for Digging.Then best bits of mud are chosen and taken back to the lab for further analysis. How do they choose which are the best bits? A qualified archaeologist who knows about such things chooses them, that's how.
(I know this might be considered rather a simplified version, Emily, but I'm doing my best here).
The Best Bits of Mud are then baked in an oven, because this makes the Best Bits of Mud more crumbly and more likely to fall off whatever's concealed in them. If, by any chance, the mud contains a silver goblet or King John's Crown Jewels, it's pretty likely that the team will have noticed this by now.
But generally, the finds aren't so obvious. So the mud has to be sieved. There are different sizes of sieve. Firstly, ten millimetres for the really huge stuff. Then it's sieved again, five millimetres this time. Then two millimetres. Then one millimetre.
Here's a photo that Emily took of the Sieved Bits. On the right is a pencil, so you can see the size.They find a lot of mouse teeth, says Emily, and they are very sharp.
It's all glamour, archaeology.
posted by Daphne at 6:54 pm
3 Comments:
Nonono, we wash then bake dirt!
otherwise fine!
and don't forget that we flotate (real word?) stuff.
King John's Crown Jewels?! You must get very wet on that dig!
Archaeologists make up about a tenth of the population here in the summer. You can't move for runes in these parts. None of them quite fit into the 'bit of a character' types you see on Time Team.
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