Daily Log: 2. 28. 2005

Just before the day was to be underway, I was asked by the Thai people to participate in the blessing of the excavation site. So 5 others and myself paid respects to the skeletons we worked on. Paying our respects entailed praying in front of plates of offerings that were being given to the spirits. On the plates was pig, chicken, a cigarette, fruit, whiskey, incense, and a candle. After praying, we left the area in which we left the offerings, and went on with the daily activities of digging, restoring pottery, and working in the excavation site doing various archeological tasks.

Doing any sort of archeological work requires many skills and tools to get the job done. On top of being patient and careful, it’s also important to have a talent for working in small delicate spaces. A lot of different tools are used in the process of excavating. Some of these tools are a variety of flattened diamond shaped shovels. The ‘shovels’ range from large to small and are used to either scrape away a large area of soil (if it’s a larger shovel) or if its one of the smaller sized ones, it’s used to scrape away soil that lies closely to the bone. There is an art to using these tools, and I feel that they are most effective when tilted at a 45-degree angle to the dirt. Putting it at this angle creates less stress on the wrist, and the maximum amount of dirt is taken away.

When one is taking away soil from the skeleton, a paintbrush is used to dust away any loose dirt making the bones or artifacts more visible. Using a paintbrush to go over the bones (or pots) can also fleck away loose or delicate particles, so being very careful is an absolute must!!! Once all of the dirt is swept away into a pile, it’s placed into a dustpan, and poured into a bucket. The bucket, once filled to the brim with soil, is hooked onto a rope and pulled up out of the site. This is the quickest way to get soil out of the ‘hole’, because a lever is used to lift the pail up to a person who is waiting at the top. The soil is then poured through a screen to double-check the results.

Another task that’s done at the site right when a grave is excavated is sketching in detail the remains and the surrounding artifacts. A grid is placed carefully over the skeleton and each box on the grid is sketched onto graph paper that is scaled down to size. The grid is just a square meter. String is strung through the frame that creates a grid-like pattern. Jim and I did not know that there was a grid we could use, so when he and I did sketching, we did it by freehand and it took us about 3 hours! Now we know that in the future, a grid can be used if we ever have to sketch a burial!!!

So there are many different types of tools used while excavating pottery, bones, or any other artifacts that present themselves in the soil. It takes a lot of careful digging and proper usage of the tools to accurately lift the items out of the ground!

Peace,
Jamie