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Some Methods Used in Excavating Eastern Shell Heaps

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Douglas S. Byers  and
Frederick Johnson
Douglas S. Byers
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts
Frederick Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts
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Extract

This paper is intended as an aid for those conscientious amateur archaeologists who are interested in preserving their specimens and the data which goes with them. In answer to many questions, and in the hope that this paper may be of some help to those desiring to systematize their field methods, there are here set down some of the practices that have been applied to shell heap excavation with fair success.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , January 1939 , pp. 189 - 212
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1939

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References

169 The subject of cameras is something to provoke the most heated discussions between supporters of the various makes. It is not necessary to have anything more elaborate than a box camera, such as a Brownie, provided you know how to use it. A film-pack camera with a ground-glass for focusing is extremely useful in taking close-ups of archaeological features. In any case, however, if you know the limitations of your camera and can use it to the best advantage you will make out very well with any type, no matter what it costs.

170 Instructions for making a plane table and alidade which would be suitable for this type of surveying may be found in many publications devoted to home shop work. Directions for using this equipment may be found in any surveyor's manual.

171 Experience has shown that stakes should be sturdy, say 2×2 inches, and in the neighborhood of 3 feet long. At least 18 inches to 2 feet of the stake must be driven firmly into the ground to prevent its moving.

172 Finally, we give the field catalogue cards and the specimens museum numbers. The field number is entered on the museum catalogue card, and so there is a complete cross reference between the specimens and the two sets of numbers.

173 In actual practice it is sometimes necessary to modify slightly this system of numbering. However, when the unusual situation ceases to exist, the note pages are renumbered according to the order described.

174 We found a twenty-centimeter interval most convenient.