The plant required by an excavation will, of course, vary with the conditions, but a list of the things that it would seem advisable to lay in may have some interest.

The main tools to be used by the men are picks, spades, knives, and baskets. In Greece a round rush basket is obtainable, being used in the mines at Laurium, which is not too large, so that when full of earth it is easily carried. It is good to have a large supply as they wear out and are useful moreover for holding small finds such as pottery, as well as for shifting the earth, and even as packing cases for the smaller finds if the journey is short, the method being to sew two together with string. The picks used should be very light and spare shafts should not be forgotten unless there is a local supply. Besides these, a crowbar or two, a sledge hammer, a few sieves and some rope are indispensable.

Indispensable also are a dumpy level, and a prismatic compass, of which the use is chiefly to take one bearing for any plan to find magnetic. I do not agree with the view that the archaeologist should trouble himself with true north unless he wants to fit his plan on to an existing map, a rare event.