j. p. droop archaeological excavation cambridge library collection - archaeology 2010

8/13/2019 J. P. Droop Archaeological Excavation Cambridge Library Collection - Archaeology 2010

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Archaeology

Te discovery o material remains rom the recent or the ancient past has

always been a source o ascination, but the development o archaeology as

an academic discipline which interpreted such finds is relatively recent. It

was the work o Winckelmann at Pompeii in the 1760s which first revealed

the potential o systematic excavation to scholars and the wider public.

Pioneering figures o the nineteenth century such as Schliemann, Layard and

Petrie transormed archaeology rom a search or ancient artiacts, by means

as crude as using gunpowder to break into a tomb, to a science which drew

rom a wide range o disciplines - ancient languages and literature, geology,

chemistry, social history - to increase our understanding o human lie and

society in the remote past.

Archaeological Excavation

J. P Droop (18821963) was a classical field archaeologist. Afer graduating

rom rinity College, Cambridge, in 1904 he worked as a field archaeologist

or the British School at Athens, and was appointed Chair o Classical

Archaeology at Liverpool University in 1914. Tis volume was intended as a

guide to practical archaeological excavation and was first published in 1915

as part o the Cambridge Archaeological and Ethnological series. At the time

o publication, archaeology was starting to become a more scientific and

academic discipline, as can be seen in Droops arguments on the importance

o archaeological context and knowledge o stratification on site. Te

development o excavation as a scientifically based practice is shown by the

emphasis on planning o the site, in contrast to earlier guides to excavation.

Tis volume provides insights into the development o the theory as well as

the practice o archaeology.

C A M B R I D G E L I B R A R Y C O L L E C T I O N

Books of enduring scholarly value


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ArchaeologicalExcavation

J. P. D


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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSIY PRESS

Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape own, Singapore,So Paolo, Delhi, Dubai, okyo

Published in the United States o America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.orgInormation on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108010283

in this compilation Cambridge University Press 2010

Tis edition first published 1915Tis digitally printed version 2010

ISBN 978-1-108-01028-3 Paperback

Tis book reproduces the text o the original edition. Te content and language reflectthe belies, practices and terminology o their time, and have not been updated.

Cambridge University Press wishes to make clear that the book, unless originally publishedby Cambridge, is not being republished by, in association or collaboration with, or

with the endorsement or approval o, the original publisher or its successors in title.


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Camfcrfogt 0rtf)aeologtcal anil tift&nofofffcal>tvit

RCH EOLOGIC LEXC V TION


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The Cam bridge Archaeological and EthnologicalSeries issupervised byan Editorial Committee consistingof M. R. JAMES, Litt.D., F.B.A., Provost of King'sCollege, P. GILES, Litt.D., Master of EmmanuelCollege,A. C. HADD ON, SC.D., F.R.S., University Reader inEthnology, WILLIAM RIDGEW AY, SC.D., F.B.A., DisneyProfessorof Archaeology, E.J. RAPSON, M.A., Professorof Sanskrit, and W. H. R. RIVERS, M.A., F.R.S.,University Lecturer in Physiology of the Senses.


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ARCHAEOLOGICALEXCAVATION

BYJ. P. DROOP M.A.

Late Student of the British School at Athens

Cambridge:at the University Press


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C A M B R I D G E U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S SC. F. CLAY M A N A G E R

Uottfton: FETTER LANE,E.C.iEBinbtttglj: iooPRINCES STREET

to g o d s : G. P. P U T N A M ' S S O N S, Calcutta airt iJHalrass: MACMII.I.AN AND Co., L T D

Cotonta: J. M. D E N T ANDS O N S , L T D .T H E M A R U Z E N - K A B U S H I K I - K A I S H A

All rights reserved


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ToR. M. DAWKINS

all -sagacious in our a rt ,Breeder in me of what poor skill I boast.


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INTRODUCTION

TH E time has perhaps gone by when it wasnecessary, if it ever were, to put forward adefence of the pleasant practice of digging, adefence of it, that is to say, not as a harmlessrecreation of the idle rich, but as a serious businessfor a reasonable man. In all ages the maker ofhistory and the recorder of history have alikereceived due honour. To-day a place is found,not equal, of course, in glory but in the samehierarchy, for the reverent discoverer of the drybones of his tory ; and on Clio's roll of honournext to Homer and Agamemnon there is now aplace for Schliemann.In the last forty years excavation has beencarried on very extensively in Italy, in Greece,and in Egypt, to say nothing of the work that hasbeen done in the more northern countries ofEurope, or in fields further to the east; and th etime has come when it may be of some interestto set forth the principles that have been, or atleast should have been, the basis of the work.The reservation m ust be m ad e; for in Greece,at least, and in Egypt it was unavoidably, bu t nonethe less deplorably, the case that the great men ofthe past lacked the experience that is now ours.Excavation, like surgery, is an art, but, unlike thesurgeon, the excavator has no unlimited supply of


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V1U INTRODUCTION

new subjects ready tobenefitby hisgrowing skill.The number of sites that have been spoiled willnot bear thinking of, sites that bring a vicariousremorse to the mind that remembers by whatignorance they were very lovinglybutvery shame-fully mishandled, so that their secrets, instead ofbeing gatheredup,were spilledandlost. Thepityof it is that in the old days excavation was notrecognised as an art; the excavator took a spadeanddug andwhathefound hefound; what couldbe more simple or more satisfying? To-day heknows, or should know, for the reservation isagain necessary, that what he finds is not moreimportant than theconditions inwhich hefinds it.On the old plan it is as if a man were shown thesymbols a + b (a b and, when asked what hesaw, replied : a banda b. There is no inten-tion here of suggesting that all the great men ofthe past were fools and that wisdom has beenreserved for the present generation; far from it,but in a business inwhich accumulated experiencejoined with common sense carries a man three-quarters of the way the results in the days ofno experience wereof necessity much as if it hadbeen so.The writer s training has been entirely gainedin Greek lands, withthe addition of oneseason inEgypt, so that any illustrations with which hemay pointhisremarks must bedrawn from acom-paratively narrow field, but he believes that thebroad principles that should underlie archaeologicalexcavationdo not vary with locality, and this allthe more because one of them is that the nature


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INTRODUCTION IX

of every site must be taken into careful considera-tion before any lessons can be safely drawn fromthe yield of the work.From the stress laid in the following pagesupon stratification the reader might be excusedfor thinking that all sites have been stratified bypast generations with a nice comprehension of theneeds of the excavator. Unfortunately it is notso. Many sites show no strata and in many morethe strata that once existed have been destroyedby rash digging for foundations or by other balefulactivities, though ancient builders were not socriminal as their modern successors. But becausewhere strata do not exist digging is easy, andbecause where strata do exist digging is mostdifficult and the results of digging most fruitfulin knowledge, I believe that to be able to dig astratified site well is to have attained to thehighest and most remunerative skill in this parti-cular work; therefore I make no apology forlaying stress on the importance of stratification;its presence should always be assumed until theworst is known, for no scientific harm is done bythe assumption and much may be saved. I t needhardly be said that this refers only to the processof digging, not to the subsequent study of thefinds; for the man who worked out his results onthe assumption that his finds must have beenstratified would soon make a great, but not anenviable, name. The fact is, of course, easy toascertain as the excavation proceeds, chiefly bythe consistency or otherwise of the results; con-sistency is the main point, and too much faith


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X INTRODUCTIONshould never be given to isolated phenomena, evenif not contradicted, for nothing is more necessaryto remember than that any individual object orset of objects may have got out of place. Oneor two iron knife-blades were found mixed withthe Middle Minoan pottery at the cave aboveKamares, yet we forbore to proclaim to the worldthat the Middle Minoans were an iron-usingpeople; there, however, there was no stratifica-tion to be contaminated, but sometimes the mostscandalous finds turn u p ; a mediaeval coin, forinstance, has been known to try to compromisethe purest of neolithic deposits.This essay has been written with the idea chieflyof entertaining the manyw o by their interest andsubscriptions have helped in the work of recoveringthe past, and partly in the hope that, if it makeseven slightly for the accomplishment of betterwork in the future, it may not have been writtenin vain; and the writer has dared to put his viewswith the more freedom because he has never beenin charge of an excavation, and therefore need notfear the reproach that what he preaches he did notpractise.Lastlyat the present time such a book asthis should not appear without an apology forits impertinence; ye t this will perhaps seem lessgross to those who look confidently to a future inwhich we shall be free once more to care aboutthe past. J. P. D.

L O N D O N .u ust 1915.


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CHAP.II II I IIVVV I

V II

CONTENTSI N T R O U T I O N . . . .

GENERALP A R T I C U L A R . . . .Q U A L I F I C A T I O N ST H E O U T F I T A N D I T S U S ES O M E Q U E S T I O N S O F M O R A L I T YP U B L I C A T I O N . . . .E P I L O G U E . . . .A P P E N D I X A . . . .

B . . . .C . . . .D .E .

INDEX

FIGURES

PAGIviii7

34 39 5i 58 63 65. 68. 70 73 75 78

IGc3 Specim en sketch es of Stratifica tion . 18

4 Th e use of th e D um py Level . . 665 Th e use of the D um py Level . . 676. Specimen plan showing m easu rem entsneeded . . . . . . 697 Plan and sect ion to i l lustrate graphicpublication 718. Section to show how th e dat e of a

building relative to the surroundingdeposits can be inferred from theirpositions 75


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CHAPTER IGENERAL

The archaeologist's general aim on approachinga new site should be to draw from it all the know-ledge th at he can, to unearth as complete a skeletonas possible of the history of that particular spotduring the period when it was a hum an hab itation.Unless th at period belongs to times when men wrotewhat can now be read, he can hardly hope touncover perfect history, but the more completethe dry bones that he lays bare the better thechance that they will rise again as history whenimagination shall have prophesied to them.Therefore the excavator's sympathies should beas wide as possible, and nothing that he findsshould meet with his neglect because it is not justwhat he is looking for. This sounds obvious andmost unnecessary to be said, yet, to take but oneinstance of a breach of this rule, there are to-dayarchaeologists with well-known names who will diga site only for its inscriptions, paying no attentionto other and in their eyes lesser finds. This is adouble crime, a crime against the actual neglectedfinds and a crime against the site and its possibletreasures yet unfound. I t should always be re-membered that in general a site cannot be touchedand left without irreparable damage, and thatthere can hardly be a worse sin for an excavator

D. I


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2 GENERAL [CH.

than having attacked a site to leave the partbegun unfinished. Yet this is likely to be theresult of an interest that is insufficiently catholic.It is a lesser evil, but I think generally amistake, even to leave a separate part of a sitefor operations in the indefinite future, unless thecircumstances are very favourable and there isdefinite reason to think the course beneficial.There are I think two reasons against it. In th efirst place, there is the great importance ofestablishing the relative positions of the thingsfound and the fact that it is never very easy tosettle accurately the relations between old andnew. And secondly to begin a site and to leaveit diminishes the potential interest of the partundug, and lessens the chances of the work's everbeing finished unless a particular set of circum-stances should again direct attention to the place.It is however only fair to mention one instance(Phylakopi in the island of Melos excavated 1896-1898 and again 1911) where this practice was inthe result very beneficial. The circumstances werehowever particularly favourable, for it was a townsite and the undug portion was neatly partitionedoff by the walls of the houses. The advantages ofthe supplementary dig were due to the knowledgeof Cretan pottery gained in the interval, whichknowledge made the study of the finds easier. Allthe same had the first excavation been the idealpiece of work that we never hope to see therewould have been no need of a second.I am not, of course, arguing that an unpro-ductive site should be dug to the bitter end.


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I] GENERAL 3

That were to ask too much of human nature.Moreover in such a case the presumption wouldbe that there is nothing there to be damaged byabandonment.To resume, in theory nothing that is found iswithout interest and everything should be dealtwith. For many facts th a t appear to have nointerest at the time may become of first-rateimportance in the future through the discovery ofsimilar facts elsewhere. The same excavation ofPhylakopi gives an example in the case of theso-called M in yan ware. At the time of the firstexcavation this ware was practically unknown andreceived a bare mention in the publication, thoughthe results of the second excavation suggest thatit must have been found in considerable quantities.This was no doubt due to its apparent inferiorityof interest where so much was new and of first-rate importance. By a piece of good fortune thesecond excavation in 1911 was able to supplementthe first, and to find out several points vital tothe history of this ware, which but for this chancemight have been lost entirely owing to the formeromission to put them on record. I do no t wish tosay anything in disparagement of the treatment ofthe pottery at the earlier excavation, still less toappear to patronise it, but my comment on it willlead up to the next point that I wish to make.It was a very good piece of work indeed but it wasnot ideal (if it had been there would have beenlittle need of the second excavation, notwith-standing the new knowledge of Cretan potteryacquired in the interval), and the chief reason


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4 GENERAL [CH.

why it was not ideal was that there was too muchmaterial for one man to deal with really adequately. yimpression of thewholeof that first excavation,on which three seasons were spent, is that theexcavators cleared too much of the town in thetime, they went too fast and were swamped bytheir material.The staff should be adequate and the workshould no t proceed too fast. Naturally these twofactors, the speed of the work and the numbers ofthe staff are interdependent. No excavation canbe really well done if it is not possible to keepabreast of the finds,thatisto say, to ascertain pr et tywell what is being found as the work proceeds.It is to be hoped that the days are over whenextensive digs were carried on by one or two men,the days when it was possible without shame andonly partly in jest to say that one of the charmsof winter work in the museum was the rediscoveryof what had been found at the excavationthedays, in fine, when a spirit of madness was abroadthat actually led men to adopt and act on thefollowing creed: W herever it is feasible, theemployment of large gangs of men is more eco-nomical and more conducive to accurate archaeo-logical observation, th an the employment of smallernumbers of men spread over a longer period oftime. The m anner, for instance, in which thevarious archaeological stratifications presentthemselves in rapid and organic succession to theeye of the student, when work is carried on on alarge scale, adds a quality to the mode of observa-tion which cannot readily be supplied when work


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I] GENERAL 5is less compressed in time. The last sentence isperfectly true but the name of that quality isconfusion.I hope and believe that those days are over;yet many excavations must depend unfortunatelytoo much on the support of public subscriptions,so tha t thetemp tation isstrongtowidenthescopeoftheworkinorder tha t theincreased resultsmaykeep alive the interest of subscribers; on a pro-ductive site the tendency should be checked,because it will always lead to a passing of thelimits beyond which the work loses in efficiency,will always lead in fact to the process known bythe expressive name of hogging. The needofan adequate staff applies equallyto thesubsequentstudy of the finds in the museum . Every effortshouldbemadeto getsuch studyand thepublica-tion of its results done as quickly as possiblewithout lossofthoroughness. In thecaseofworkdependingfor itssupport onpublic interest thisisobvious common sense,but apart from that, lossoftime means definite loss shown in the results,definite lossof knowledge. For in this imperfectworld w iththepassageoftime comesthemislayingand shifting of labels, and the most perfect notesbecome less intelligible when the memory of thecontext that should illumine them hasfaded. Theinitiated could point to several great excavationswhich arebelieved to have suffered much throughbeing dealt with subsequentlyby toosmalla staff.All this, like most things connected with mysubject, is common sense. Anywork to be doneefficiently needs an adequate staff. The too


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6 GENERA L [CH. I

frequent neglect of this point in past archaeologyeither points to personal selfishness in high placesor merely goes to show that it was not yet recog-nised that there are two ways of conducting anexcavation. Finally it is clear th a t the best wayof ensuring enough helpers in the museum is tohave enough on the d ig; no t only will the irinterest be engaged so that they will be eager toassist in the work of publication, but other thingsbeing equal that work will be better done by themen who saw all the conditions of the finding.The last general principle to be mentioned hasagain no peculiar application to archaeology. I tis the need for good organisation, necessary inarranging the actual work of digging and stillmore necessary in dealing with the finds.For the excavator of a productive site is much inthe position of a general in the fieldwho is receivinga constant stream of fresh troops. In both casesthe arrivals are very welcome, but without properorganisation the result is disastrous confusion.Thus the man who means to undertake a digshould know the necessity of having an interest ascatholic as possible, and besides a sense of duty tohis finds, whether they happen to stir his interestor not, of realising the calls that the site will makeon his resources, and of holding his hand if he feelsthat they will be such as in the future he may notbe able to honour, of securing enough helpers bothduring and after the excavation, and lastly of neverallowing his natural hum an eagerness to tem pt himto go so fast as to risk the breakdown of hisorganisation.


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CHAPTER I IPARTICULARA. Digging.General principles i t is easy enough to s tate,but the matter is not so simple when it comes tothe particular question, By what means are ob-jects best found and made to yield up their story?The answer comes in the form of another principlenearly as general as its predecessors. An excava-tion should be so conducted that it would bepossible in theory to build up the site again withevery object replaced exactly in its original posi-tion. For it is not un til after excavation hasdisclosed fully what may be called the geologicalnature of the site, the original contours of thevirgin soil, and the source and order of the subse-

quent accumulations, that reasoned conclusionscan be formed as to the history of the objectsfound; and these conclusions cannot be formed, orat least cannot be formed with the same certainty,if the relations of the individual finds either withone another or with the geological conditions arenot accurately known. Should the objects havebeen taken out in a higgledy-piggledy manner nosubsequent knowledge of the history of the accu-mulations will be of much avail, and instead of


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8 PARTICULAR [CH.

having evidence from stratification the studentwill be reduced to evidence from style . And thismay mean that all that he can say with certaintyabout the site will be the fruit of his previousknowledge. I say th at the student will be reducedto the evidence from style, using the verb delibe-rately as implying a natural inferiority inherent inth at kind of evidence. As an excavator I wish toinsist on this point because we are engaged inupsetting the old gods, and we still have to fightfor our new creed; for as yet there have not beenenough good stratified sites properly dug to carryits tru th into universal acceptance. Men are con-servative in their religions, and the habit ofoffering incense on the altar of style is of very oldorigin; since collectors existed long before thescientific excavator, and have long been formingconclusions about their possessions by the onlymeans open to them ; consequently the new truthhas a formidable antagonist in the old habit ofmind, particularly with those to whom the factsof an excavation are unfamiliar. I t behoves metherefore to set it down as plainly as I can that,when the evidence from excavation, the evidence,that is, for the chronology of a set of objectsfounded on a mass of observations as to how theylay, comes as may happen into conflict with theviews on the subject derived from a study of thestyle of those objects, by tracing their probabledevelopment from one stage to another with thesupport of wide-drawn analogieswhen these tworadically different kinds of evidence come intoconflict the opposed forces are no t equa l; it is not


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I I ] PARTICULAR O,

permitted us to say that the two discrepantwitnesses exactly balance one another, so that wemust reserve an open mind. The tru th is th atthe two kinds of evidence are so far from balancingthat the stylistic conclusions formed perhaps ona priori grounds and to a large extent subjectivemust be outweighed by those attested by the hardfacts of observed stratification ; for men may bemistaken in their views on the development ofform and ornament, but to discredit in favour ofthese the evidence of a good piece of stratificationobserved by competent persons is to abandon thescientific attitude and to proclaim a real faithvigorous and impregnable before the assaults ofreason.I would not however be understood to giveless than their value to the conclusions to be drawnfrom a wide study of style when better evidence isnot to be had: I believe indeed tha t such aconflict as I have indicated would be rare, andthat in most cases where excavation has been ableto form a check the conclusions from both sourceshave been found to tally . Yet one such conflictcan be found (if I may be allowed the egotism ofcalling attention to a piece of work in which I hada share), in two papers dealing with the Cyrenaicvases that are scattered through the museums ofEurope l. Both these papers attem pted a chrono-logical classification of the vases in question, andthey will be found by the curious to differ widely.M. Dugas' paper was much the more skilful piece1 Dugas, Rev. Arch. 1907, Tom. ix, p. 403; Droop, / . H. S.xxx, p. 1.


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1 0 PARTICULAR [CH.of work, for he had nothing to go on but thesharpness of his eyesight and a wide knowledge ofthe development of vase-painting elsewhere; m yclassification, on the other hand, needed only anintimate acquaintance with one set of vases,namely the large and very well stratified mass offragments of the same ceramic fabric that we werelucky enough to find at Sparta just after M. Dugashad written his paper; the whole history of theware was there before me divided into its stagesby the stratification, and all that I had to do withthe vases known before was to slip each into itsproper division. The reason for the breakdown ofthe argument from style in this case is not uninter-esting. It was not then known that these vaseswere made in Laconia (the fact is not even yetuniversally admitted, but they were); conse-quently no one had thought of seeing in them thepeculiar effects of the Spartan ideals. Yet we nowknow that in the eighth and early seventh centuriesart showed as fair a blossom at Sparta as anywhereelse in Greece, but began to wither there at theclose of the seventh century under the blight ofmilitarism. On the pottery the effect was th atthe style of drawing never passed the archaicstage ; throughout the sixth century the work gotprogressively worse and more careless, and lackedthe impulse to develop greater freedom so that itended as archaic as it began; small wonder thenth at the most careful student of style being withoutthe key should be deceived into placing verycareless and archaic-looking work much earlierthan is warranted by its fabric, which we now


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II] PARTICULAR IIknow to be almost the only guide to the datingof the Laconian vases. It is due to M.Dugas tosay that his prompt acceptance of the Spartaresults shows him not to be a man to whomevidence from excavation makes a weak appeal.Revenons d nos moutons. The only way bywhich an approximation to this desired accurateknowledgeof therelative positionsoffindscan bereachedis bysubdivision of the site, minutesub-division both vertically and horizontally. Thelimitsof thehorizontal subdivisionsareoften fore-ordainedbywalls,but ifthesedo notexistor arenot close enough together, arbitrary divisions mustbe made. Vertical divisions are also sometimesprovided ready,tohand,as forinstance the floorsof a house. But these, even should they exist,are not always easily detected in the actual diggingunless they consist of stone slabs or cobbles. Itis true that afterwards traces of them can fre-quently be detected in section in the walls,butthen unless other steps have been taken it mightbe difficult todecide, however beautifully the orderof the successive finds was preserved,atwhat pointin that order thefloor level came. There is onewell-known excavation where sucha point alwaysremained in doubt.The only wayinwhichthevertical relationsofthe objects found can be properly ascertained isby using a dumpy level continually all over thesite1. The method is simple though laborious.The horizontal sections being marked out,themenare set to dig and areshown a depth to which

1 See Appendix A.


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1 2 PARTICULAR [CH.they should dig evenly over the extent of theirsection. The levels of the top and the bottom ofthe section are taken and are written, togetherwith the horizontal designation, on the labelsattached to all finds from th at section. Supposethen that digging had gone on in room i of houseAin a prehistoric town, and that subsequentlyremains of a clay flooring were observed in thesides of the pit, a change of soil being therediscernible, although during the actual digging ithad passed unnoticed. The level of it is takenand found to be 90-35 m. A reference to the findsshows one set of objects from Ax 90-5090-30 andthe next below from Ai 90-3190-09. This nodoubt is not so satisfactory as if the floor had beendetected at once and made the bottom of a divisionor had by chance coincided with one, but it is agood deal better than nothing.Of course, it is not on every site that verticaldivisions so small as -20 m. repay the tro ub le:often -50 m. or even more will answer everypurpose; bu t, until trial has been made, workshould always be begun on the supposition thatminute subdivision will be necessary to catch allchanges in the deposits. The thickness of sectionallowable is in direct ratio to the rate at whichthe p ay d ir t was deposited; it is clear forexample that on the site of a rich shrine thedeposits of votive offerings would be laid downfaster and over a given length of years wouldreach a greater thickness than at one compara-tively poor; wherefore, the development of styleand fashion in the offerings being assumed to be


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1 4 PARTICULAR [CH.

establishing the position of finds properly, for if itis neglected there is a danger that the levels takenmay not tell a true story of the section as a whole.From this point of view, indeed, keeping the wholeof one part of the site more or less on the samelevel is not of very great importance, but theavoidance of deep digging here and there ingeneral simplifies the arrangement of roads fordumping and makes it always easier to work fromthe top.The necessity for so working in order to gainour methodical end is obvious, but it needs empha-sizing, for there is always a great temptation forthe workman to dig from the side inwardsit iseasier and saves him a great deal of labour. Ins teadof lifting every spadeful all that he has to do is alittle undermining, and the upper earth comesdown of itself. I t is however the gravest ofcrimes, for it insures the confusion of any stratifi-cation th at may have existed. I t might be arguedthat if all that is necessary to salvation is so todig by subdivisions that in theory everything couldbe put back in position, this result could be gotjust as well by having a big vertical and a verysmall horizontal section. I t is not so however, forsuch an argument would ignore the originalworkings of time whereby in nine cases out of tenthe knowledge that is valuable concerns thevertical position of objects, not the horizontal.Moreover, whereas digging from the top permitsof full control at will of the dimensions of sectionsboth horizontal and vertical, digging from the sideleaves little control of the vertical dimensions of


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II] PARTICULAR 15the section, which would practically depend on theheight of the earth wall that is being attacked.Fatal to the knowledge of stratification, diggingfrom the side is not to be recommended even whenit is certain that there is none to know, for unlessthe excavation is taking place on a hillside thepractice involves more labour, not to the actualman with the spade, but to the excavation as awhole. For should a track on the level be neces-sary for th e removal of the dum p, to allow anysoil to fall further than can be helped is clearwaste of labour. During my season in Egypt theapplication of labour to the bottom of a moundthat had to be cleared must have wasted a largeamount of work, for by that method it is hardlyan exaggeration to say that all the sand first sliddown to the very lowest point possible, the bottomof the mound, which was lower than the sur-rounding desert, and thence had to be carried upto the dumping railway on the level of the desert.If the work had been applied to the top of themound much money might have been saved. Therehowever the only harm was wasted money, on astratified site the penalty would have been lostpossibilities of knowledge.If time and money were of no account there isno doubt that for a productive site the best diggingtool would be a kind of bread-knife without apoint. The use of such a weapon goes nearest toinsure the fewest possible breakages, for it is light,and the b lunt end does not provide the same strongtemptation as a point to use premature leverage.Excavators however are only human so that it is


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in practice impossible to forbear the use of pickand spade until it is known that objects lie sothick th a t the knife must be subs tituted. Andthen I think the governing reason is the fear ratherof missing than of breaking objects. The questionof breakages is very delicate. There is naturallya strong desire to keep them down and to eliminateall unnecessary smashes, but in practice it is notfound advisable to punish such or even to givesevere reprimands, for such unpleasantness givesthe workman strong reason to suppress in futureall traces of his victima far worse evil.Rather to be recommended is an appeal to theman's better nature, supported by what is perhapsstill more effective, a reduction but not completesuppression of the tip, when the object is such aswould natura lly produce one. Where more firm-ness can be shown with advantage is when a pieceis missing from an object and the break showsnew, a matter about which there can seldom bedoubt. Rigorous search can well be insisted on,for, though no doubt the man regards it as anuisance, nothing irremediable has happened, sothat the only temptation towards complete sup-pression is laziness, which the certain loss of thepossible tip may be trusted to check.The system of tips here referred to, which hasworked well in Greece, consists of giving a ticketto the finder of any object thought worth it. Thegiver writes on it the nature of the object andinitials it, and on pay-day it is redeemed for sucha sum, varying in practice from twenty centimesto a franc, as he thinks it worth. The men seem


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II] PARTICULAR 17to like the system, the element of chance in theuncertain value of the ticket being a great attrac-tion, and it has this great merit that it wonderfullysharpens the workman's eyes.Sharpness of the eyes, which is really responsivequickness of the brain, is perhaps for the excavatorthe greatest of nature's gifts, though it can beimproved by practice. Where it is probably mostneeded is for the noting of all changes of soil asthe digging proceeds. These may mean nothing,but they may mean everything, as in the case ofthe layer of sand at the Sanctuary of Orthia atSparta . They are, unless well marked and general,the most elusive of observable facts, and oncemissed they may offer no second chance of detec-tion, but a comparison of a series of such observa-tions over a whole site may tell a great story.I see no reason against keeping a specimen of thesoil of every section except the extra trouble, nine-tenths of which would, of course, be wasted, butwhich would be well repaid later on by the possi-bility of checking the field observations. Onepoint that should never be forgotten is the useful-ness of making diagrams of the stratification andchanges in the earth when such are visible in thesides of trenches and pits. For instance, supposingthat it were possible to make the subjoineddrawings, Figs, i and 2, showing the changes inthe earth and finds observed in the sides of twotrenches at right angles to one another along thelinesB A C B as in Fig. 3, it would be possibleto deduce from these with some certainty the roughcontours of the virgin soil in this neighbourhood

D. 2


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(indicated inFig.3 by thefiguresinmetres), andfrom noticing how the depositss far from followingthat contour line rise steeply towards the pointBto guess that something ofexceptional interestshould liein th a t direction to account for thisswelling. The hint so obtained would be ofmaterial value when the whole area came to becleared, and the observations would in anycasebe useful lateron asacheck to the levels taken,

DCPO

B

SURFACE

-E A R t K

OF VIRGINSO I L

AFIG.1 SECTION:

LIVEor moiiv SOIL DEPOSITat

TR N H

TR V H S I O> OOA

c

b

o o

0

FIG PLAJVSECTION AVE T RE 3Specimen sketchesof Stratification.

and asahelpto theunderstandingof thehistoryof the deposits. Itwasbyworking onthese linesthat theexcavators a tSparta were able toguessbeforehand atthe existenceof the early templeatthe Sanctuaryof Orthia andto be sotospeak,ready for it1. And, however much care theorydemands for all stages of the operations, in practicea special whipofthis kind has its usefulness.Theworkmen should ofcoursebetrained toreportat

1 B.S.A. xiv pp.13 and 14.


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once any change in the soil that they may notice,as they would any thrilling find, but as workmenare not to be trusted to pay attention to suchtrifles, which being beyond their understandingthey treat as mere whims of their employer, theem ployer's eye should never be far off. I t followsthen that no excavation should ever be left withoutsome capable man in charge, and work shouldnever be carried on over an area wider than canbe supervised properly. For given the chance anysite will develop enough spiteful intelligence toproduce its best finds just in the absence of theobserving eye, and even among the best trainedworkmen there are few with self-restraint enoughto wait for its return. When au thority does returnit may be to find an urn burial with the vasealready moved, and the chance of photographingor sketching it in position gone.This is a return to the plea for an adequatestaff. I t is also a plea for comparatively shorthours. As th us : in Greece when a man is engagedto work he expects to do so from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.,with half an hour for breakfast at 8, and an hourand a half off in the middle of the day, or if it isgetting towards summer he will work till 6.30 withtwo hours ' rest a t noon. Those hours he wouldwork tilling his own fields or another's, and exca-vating work is on the whole less heavy, for pickand spade naturally rest by turns, the spade beingnever used for breaking up the soil but only forclearing away that already excavated. The man incharge however has his atten tion continually on th estra in. Moreover his headquarters are generally

2 2


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not absolutely on the site, and even at lunchtime the journey to and fro may leave him littletime for rest if he is to be back when work begins,while at breakfast time this is manifestly impos-sible. And, however adequately staffed the exca-vation may be, to have another man ready to goout when the first returns does not pay, apart fromthe unsociability and the possible culinary difficul-ties, because in work of this kind if anything ishappening the reliever should always overlap therelieved in order that he may be brought up todate with the position. I am convinced th at alengthening of the morning and midday restswould greatly increase the efficiency of the man incharge, and would probably mean a decrease inslackness in the workman towards the end of theday, so that the actual loss in amount of workdone would not be great. I t is no doubt, in thecase of excavations dependent on subscriptions, adesire to get the utmost possible in return for themoney spent that is responsible for the length ofthe hours of work, but these are, nevertheless, amistake, for they lead to staleness. It is openhowever to the reader to ascribe this view of mineto laziness.B. Trials.

With wealth, unlimited time and superhumanpatience a man might work out his subdivisionsand proceed. Few, unfortunately, can afford todo so. For the rest it is necessary to make trialsbefore beginning the main work, which is a pity


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because a site is not a cheese and tastes are aptto damage it.If there are walls showing or stones that looklike parts of walls it is a natural, and strange tosay quite proper, method of beginning trials todig trenches along them to discover how deep theygo. If there are no walls, it is be tter to digtrenches than a series of pits in spite of the greatercost, for the absence of gaps in the line gives acertainty that no transverse wall has been missed.The danger of trusting to pits is illustrated by thestory th at some pits th a t were dug in the middle ofthe Palace of Knossos missed everything 1. If thenthe presence of a building is suspected, and mostsites possess buildings, two pairs of trenches atright angles to one another across the given areato be tried should have a good chance of findingit, and would at least limit absolutely the spacestill open for search in th at area. In rockycountries where field divisions are often stonewalls, it is well to remember that these may bebuilt on ancient foundations.All trenches should be dug with as much careand subdivision as the subsequent excavation assoon as finds have declared themselves, and theirposition should be carefully planned. No m at terhow unpromising the outlook every trial trenchshould be carried down to virgin soil, for theexcavator cannot otherwise be sure that he hasobtained all the knowledge possible from thattrench. This indeed applies to main operationsjust as much as to trials, though perhaps thetem ptation is strongest to abandon a barren trench .

1 B.S.A. VIII, p. i.


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2 2 PARTICULAR [CH.This again is a principle that has only to bestated to be admitted, but there is more than onefamous Greek site where a resumption of work ata later period has revealed unsuspected spoils at adepth never reached in the earlier operations.Curiously enough the two cases that are in mymind at the moment were both in the hands ofthose apostles of thoroughness, the Germans.A method of testing the ground exhaustivelythat has been put forward is to run a series oftrenches alongside one another, filling each as it isfinished with the earth dug from the new one. I tis a very easy way for there is not much lifting ofearth involved, and no carting except that of theearth from the first trench, which must in the endbe moved across to fill the last. I hope thismethod has been buried long ago, but as there isalways a risk of its being resurrected, I enter awarning. It has nothing to recommend it. It isa thoroughly messy way of digging (whoever hasread so far will see that this alone is enough tocondemn it), for instead of the minimum that

should be aimed at it involves the maximum ofstanding earth wall, through digging in a series ofnarrow strips ; a very bad thing, as it alwaysmeans a chance th at the stratification may becomemixed through small objects falling or being washedout of the sides of the trench at the upper levels,and being confused with the finds from lower down.Moreover the open trench by the side of that beingdug provides a tempting opportunity for the crimeof digging in from the side. And the method isnot even so cheap as it looks, for it probably


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requires more trenches than are necessary to findout th a t the site is not worth digging. Shouldthe contrary appear no one I think would continuethe method. I believe the most plausible defenceis likely to be that it is a way combining cheapnessand thoroughness of searching for some particularwall or building, the presence of which is suspected.If all that is wanted is to find the building, thereis no more to be said, but if, as may be presumed,it is desired to excavate the building when found,I submit that it is not a good thing to set to workby a preliminary mess-up of its surroundings.There is however one occasion, and only one, whenI would admit the method, and that is when acemetery is being sought for, and there is noreason to suppose that the area contains anythingelse. For isolated trenches may easily miss tombs.When trials have settled the area to be dugthey are not finished with, for the best site for thedump has yet to be chosen and when chosen to betested before work is begun. For economically itis sheer waste of money to throw soil on a placefrom which it may have to be moved, and archaeo-logically it is criminal, for the added cost willafterwards always act as a deterrent from diggingsuch a spot.C. Dumping.

About dumping there is not much that is usefulto be said. The problem is always to adjust themeans to the requirements. The means within myknowledge are an overhead railway on ropes, alight railway with trucks (man or horse drawn),


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carts, wheel-barrows and baskets. The first twoperhaps hardly repay the trouble unless the amountof soil to be moved is very great, or the onlyproper site for the dump very dista nt ; moreover,unless the plant is large it is probably not feasibleto bring them right up to several scattered pointsof work, and another method such as baskets mustbe used to feed the railway from various points.All this may be very satisfactory in certain circum-stances as when a large amount of what is knownto be unproductive soil has to be moved to adistance. If however the site is one productiveof small and easily overlooked objects, howeverextensive it may be there are at least two reasonsfor preferring a method of dumping, perhaps lessrapid, bu t more easily controlled. The first isthat, whereas the soil should be raked throughwith the hand before removal, the larger thereceptacle the greater the tendency to fill it asrapidly as possible without paying the soil thatattention. This may seem ra ther a fanciful point,but I have always thought that one of the reasonswhy the second season's work at a certain famousexcavation had to consist partly of the digging ofthe first season's dump was the tempting easewith which the earth could be tipped over thehillside. However th at may be it is very certainthat the greater the amount tipped over the dumpat one go the less easy it is to notice anythingth at ought not to be there. However careful thedigger is it is always worth while to have a boylooking over the newly tipped dump, and thesmaller the individual tippings the more hopeful


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his task. The next point is th a t the less elaboratethe dumping system the easier it is to modify, ifthe quantity and minuteness of the finds make itnecessary to sieve all earth from certain sectionsbefore dumping. When this happens, of course,the earth from each section and level must belabelled accordingly, and sieved separately thatany finds from it may not lose their context.Now, it is perfectly true that if it is decided tobe necessary the trouble entailed will be borne,but it is none the less certain that the questionpresents itself in the form, Is it worth while?Thus the more complex the system to be alteredthe greater the unconscious check on a step other-wise perhaps advisable.I confess to a certain shrinking, perhaps irra-tional, from the more wholesale methods ofdum ping. I would rath er see my work held upslightly while I arranged for increased facilities tomeet the proved demands of the site, than havemy means of dumping greater than necessary, forthere is, I think, in that case a danger not whollyfanciful of a subtle change in the excavator'spoint of view, of his coming to regard the dumpingcars as voracious monsters that must be fed, andthe amount of soil moved as the standard of hisachievements.D. First Aid.

It does not need much experience for a man totell when an object is too fragile to stand beingtaken from the earth unsupported. Indeed, Ithink experience tells the other way and leads to


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greater boldness. The necessary support may begiven in two ways, either by plaster of Paris orby paraffin w ax. As much soil is removed fromthe surface and all round the object as is possiblewithout disturbing it. Then in the first process itis covered with wet paper and plaster not mixedtoo thin is poured over and round it. When theplaster has set, it is generally possible to cut theobject loose from beneath without breaking it, asthe support above prevents the usual upheaval.After removal, the lower surface of the objectshould be cleaned and also supported by plaster,after which the upper plaster can be removed andthe upper surface cleaned. By this means theobject is never unsupported during the process ofcleaning. If the use of paraffin wax is preferred,all that is needed is a spirit lamp and a fryingpan . The wax is melted and poured on in asmany coats as seem required by the weight of theobject. If it is not proposed to clean the objectat once the back should also be coated afterremoval. To remove the wax remelting is all th a tis necessary. There is not much to choose betweenthe two methods, for while it is easier to leave asupport during the process of cleaning if plaster isused, there is less chance of breaking the object bymelting the wax than by sawing the plaster toremove it. These devices are only practical withcomparatively small objects, but luckily the fragileas a rule runs small.The excavator however soon learns to bephilosophical abou t breakages, whether old or new.If he did not he could not bear his trad e. Some


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indeed bring their philosophy to such a pitch asto feel that the better view is to prefer thingsbroken, that to put a premium on the unbrokenobject smacks rather of the collector, that all thatthe best people should care about is knowledge,and that they should be satisfied if enough is leftto show the original na ture of the whole. Theydo not however carry their theories so far intopractice as to neglect any means of preservingwhat does happen to be perfect. It is little enoughas a rule.E . Notes.

To take notes at an excavation is in itself anart to be learn t. I t is not easy to write a descrip-tion that shall omit nothing of importance and beintelligible to another person or to the writerhimself six months afterwards when the contexthas faded from his mind. In this connectionthere is a further advantage in the division of thesite into sections, for it provides at once a headingfor the note, and the writer is not left wonderinghow to fix the position of the fact he is to describe.It is impossible to give directions for such notes,but they should err in the direction of fullnessrather than of concision, and it is well to rememberthat rough sketches and plans are often worthmore than a good many words.In practice the excavator's vocabulary is prob-ably full of slang words and nicknames for par-ticular classes of finds. There is, I think, noreason why he should put himself to the pains oftranslating the words that come to his mind, the


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use of which may often mean a real saving ofspace and time, provided that he chooses a leisuremoment to enter a dictionary on a spare page;I possess for instance a notebook from Spartathat records the presence in many sections of T o u to u in varying quantities. Some havegreatness thrust upon them , among whom wasGeorgios Toutoudakis or Toutous. He was aCretan who worked at Sparta during the firstseason, and he it was who working in a pit byhimself found the first specimens of pottery of aparticular period, the relations of which at thattime could only be guessed at . W hat more na tura lthan to call it after its finder? The ware inquestion has since become known as Laconian V,but it was two and a half years before we hadsufficient evidence on which to classify the Spartanpottery, during which years Toutou's name wason our lips to an extent that would have surprisedhim. I t was short and distinctive, and answeredevery purpose while the proper name of the saidware yet remained hidden. If any finds are con-nected with the circumstances noted it is oftenuseful to add to their label a reference to the pagein the notebook. Lastly to provide for the worstthe handwriting and arrangement should be intel-ligible not to the writer only.It has often been said, and not without acertain truth, that the best notes are labels.Circumstances no doubt vary with climates butin Europe the plan that works best is to use alabel of wood and to write on it with not toosoft a pencil. In Greece the wooden label is


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particularly useful as it checks the depredations ofan insect rife in all local museums whose favouritedelicacy is paper and particularly inky paper.Unless the pencil used is too soft the wooden labelis also indifferent to a wetting, and it has theadvantage, or at least the compensation for itsinitial expense, that after the complete study andprobable concentration of the finds, and the con-sequent discharge from their functions of manylabels, these can be made ready for new serviceby the use of sandpaper. A string-hole should beprovided for the attachm ent of the label to isolatedfinds or to the basket or tra y. Workmen who arefinding objects should be trained to look on alabel duly written and issued by authority as theirmost crying need, and to think that to be foundcontent without a label is a crime only surpassedby confounding the belongings of two separatelabels.I once saw an excavation where the finds ofpottery in different years were distinguished bydabs of different coloured pa int . The advantageof making such a distinction was not very apparentbut the system appeared to have valuable possi-bilities when applied to stratification. Clearlythere are practical difficulties in the way of applyingit to minute subdivision, but as the work proceedsshould certain clear divisions in the stratificationbe shown by well-defined landmarks, the systemmight well be used to mark off the contents ofthese divisions, not to supersede labels but as asafeguard against their displacem ent; or again itwould be invaluable in the case of a building


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yielding wall-fresco fragments in great quantityfrom its different p ar ts ; for the fitting togetherof such is a puzzle that may take years to accom-plish, years in which accidents might befall thebest system of labelling; in such a case muchvirtue would lie in a series of indelible marks thatwould always show in what part of the buildingwere found the individuals of a crowd of similarpieces.The keeping of an excavation day-book issometimes thought advisable. In an extensiveexcavation where different regions are underseparate direction it might be useful to securethat an account of the work as a whole shouldbe found between one set of covers. In practicehowever it happens that reference is seldom madeto the day-book, each man preferring to refer tohis own notes, and what is felt to be the uselesslabour of writing it up every night becomes agreat burden. The better plan would seem tokeep such a book for entering once a week or oncea fortnight not the details of every day, which aresafe enough elsewhere, but the general trend ofthe excavation, and the broad conclusions drawnfrom the work accomplished to date, things whichdo not make their way into the field notebook.Indeed the only real advantage of the daily planis that it leads the writer to think over the resultsof the day, and to clear up on the spot anyambiguity in his notes. But for this a day-bookis not necessary.


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F . Site-choosing. Th is is all very well I can hear my readersaying, supposing th at he has got so far, b u t weknow that the recipe for roast hare properly begins' First catch your hare' and we have heard nothingabout that ye t. The tru th of the m atter is thatthere is not very much to say about the catchingof the hare. I sometimes think , indeed, thatpeople credit the excavator with dealings in blackmagic or at least with the use of a divining rod;for the question that I have met most often is H ow do you know where to d ig ? The answeris B y using our eyes and ears. Would, indeed,th a t there were a do wsing rod tha t we coulduse, but the choosing of a site is chiefly guess-work, yet always guess-work guided by signs andtokens, ancient worked blocks, portions of oldwall, or the like. The surest indication of ancienthabitation is the presence of ancient potsherds,which being both characteristic of their period andindestructible make the most descriptive of labels;intrinsically, too, they are as valueless as the stoneson the hillside, so that they are not likely to havebeen moved except possibly downhill by the forcesof denudation, and in Greece if none are to befound the spot is probably no t worth consideration.Chance often plays a part in the discovery ofsites, as in the action of the river at Sparta whereby erosion it brought to light treasures from theSanctuary of Orthia, or through the cloud-burstin 1913 that laid bare the first of a series of tombsat Pachys Ammos in Crete; mostly however they


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3 2 PARTICULAR [CH .are found by diligent search, by going to and froin the land, and by questioning the people; th eowner of an observant eye may find what he isseeking by tracing the origin of an ancient blockbuilt into a modern house; for the Greek peasantfinds an old site to be the best of quarries; whereelse, indeed, can he find his stone ready worked?For the season of 1913 the British School atAthens wished to find a prehistoric town to dig,and a pa rty visited Naxos in search of one. Wehad a very pleasant tour round the island, but wehad no luck, finding nothing of sufficient promiseto justify an expedition. One particularly bi tterdisappointment we met with there, on visiting asite known to us as having been partially workeda few years before. The undug portion was fairlyextensive and looked very hopeful with traces ofwalls appearing and with prehistoric island potterylying thickly over a good area, but our hopes weredashed by the discovery of one of those roundspaces where the Greeks of to-day use the ox,unscripturally muzzled, to tread out their corn;often these floors are paved, but this one was cutdown to the living rock only six inches below thesurface.Adieupanier vend ngessontfaites. We movedon. Maghoula-hunting, again, was an excellent sportin which I indulged with Mr Wace before theexcavations which resulted in his book 1. Mag-houla , signifying a mound, is a modern word th a tis applied to the gentle swellings on the Thessalian

1 Wace and Thompson, Prehistoric Thessaly.


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plain left by the debris of prehistoric settlements.Enquiry often gave us the direction, and wetramped the plain until we came to them, whenthe sherds and stone implements that we pickedup gave a good indication of what lay beneath.Those sites were the easiest of any to find and theleast disappointing when found that my experiencehas met with.In general however the sport is weary anddisheartening, and in Greece the game is becomingscarce.

D


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CHAPTER I I IQUALIFICATIONS

Meticulous care directed by common sense alongthe lines laid down by past experience, that is theessence of good digging; yet the ideal man tohave charge of an excavation would be a veryversatile person.He should be very patient, able to hold incheck any natural human desire for undue hasteto seize his spoil until his sober judgment tellshim th at the right moment has come1. He shouldhave the power of smooth organisation; and thepower of delegating to others, which does not meangoing away and letting the others do his work.

1 I lay stress upon this, and by way of illustration will pointto what happened at Sparta, where the presence of a site rich invotive offerings was discovered through the river's washing outsamples of them from th e edge of the Sanctuary of Orthia. Nowthe work at this spot in the first days was perhaps necessary toascertain definitely the value of the site, but, being in its methodnot wholly different from the activity of the river, it produced aset of objects scientifically inarticulate, the story of which couldonly be told by the subsequent stratified finds; and much harmwould have been done if the responsible authority had yieldedto th e desire to take o ut t he p lunder as fast as it could be reached,instead of having the wisdom to find out the limits of the siteand then to dig it methodically, leaving the first spot till itsmoment came so as to save whatever stratification might thereexist. I t was not in the event till two years later th a t th e placefirst attacked was allowed to surrender its treasures.


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He should have a good power of judging thevalue of evidence, and enough strength of mind togive it its full weight, even when it tells againsthis most cherished theory; indeed he should beable to divest his mind of all theory while engagedin extracting the facts from his evidence.He should have enough power over words towrite concisely a rigidly accurate yet lucid report.He should have a vigorous faith, and perse-verance enough to carry on a while after his faithis dead.He should have that touch of imagination thatwill often illuminate the true meaning of his facts,and in an archaeologist is genius.He should be well versed in the practical sideof his work, which implies skill in a good manydirections, though here I have only put down themost obvious. He should have knowledge enoughof rudimentary civil engineering to know how todevise the best way of removing the necessarysoil, how to lay and run a light railway where itsuse is expedient, and how to move large weightsif necessary. All these things he should be ableto do, should he not have at his service a foremanwho can do th em : should he have such a foremanhe should make very sure that the foreman's wayis inferior before substituting his own, remem beringthat work is always better done if the method isfamiliar to the men doing it, that other thingsbeing equal the local way is the best way. Heshould be a practical surveyor in a small way,unless his expedition can afford to keep an expertat hand, for apart from the planning of his trenches


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and sections it may be necessary to destroy foun-dations that cover more important remains, andthis cannot be done innocently unless a plan ofthem has been made that is not only accurate initself but can also be put accurately in its placeon the plan of the whole site. For this purposethere is no need for him to be a finished draughts-man, for the final drawing can, of course, alwaysbe made by professional labour. Likewise heshould be a capable draughtsman in water coloursas well as in black and white. As with theplanning most drawing can be done and betterdone professionally after the excavation is over,yet there are cases when the object is too frail tobe removed intact, and the excavator's conscienceis then clear only if a picture has been made beforeremoval, for which photography is not alwaysadequate, for all archaeological objects cannot besatisfactorily photographed, particularly if it is notpossible to clean them thoroughly, because, thoughthe camera cannot lie, it cannot make a properdistinction between dirt and design. Then heshould be an efficient photographer, a photo-grapher, not a mere taker of photographs. Theselast three items, planning, drawing and photo-graphy, someone must be able to do and doefficiently at a mom ent's notice. And though itis not, of course, necessary that the man in chargeshould be expert in all or any of them, theseexperts should be present on his staff and if it isnecessary to have special professionals always athand, the expenses of the excavation are materiallyincreased. It is not urged th at the main planning,


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drawing and photography should not be done byprofessionals, but the main work in these branchescan be done at a known time at the end of theexcavation, when it is often possible to import aprofessional for a known amount of work, wherebythe expense is much reduced. In the m at ter ofphotography moreover the archaeologist shouldhave good experience at any rate of museumphotography, that is to say, have an expertknowledge of arrangement, lighting and back-grounds, since in my experience no professionalphotographer can be trusted to do such workwithout supervision. To take bu t one instance;I have more than once seen photographs taken ofinscriptions when an excellent negative has beenquite useless because the operator did not think toarrange a side light, which would have greatlyincreased the legibility through the resultingshadows in the lettering. Similarly of draughts-men. Few artis ts, however good, can be trustedto make archaeological drawings without super-vision unless they have great experience in thekind of work required, for their eyes are nottrained to the minuteness of vision, nor theirminds to the inartistic accuracy that are wanted.He should have a good knowledge of first aidto sick an ticas, which implies an elementaryknowledge of chemistry. I know of an excavationwhere bronze axes, in order to clean off thecorrosion, were put into a chemical bath whichworked so efficiently as to clean away theaxes.He should know how to take those measure-


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ments of bones and skulls that are desired byanthropologists.He should have a good book knowledge ofarchaeology, and at any rate, as far as possible,acquaintance with the kind of thing that heexpects to find. Here a wide general fam iliarityis better than expert knowledge in a narrow field.He should have the power of making swiftdecisions, and the readiness for responsibility thatare wanted by all men at the head of seriousundertakings.He should be able readily to speak and under-stand the language of his workmen, and have thepower of dealing with men, so as to get the bestresults out of them while keeping on excellentterms.He should have tact and social charm both fordealing with his staff for an unhappy dig is aninefficient dig, and for negotiating any difficultiesthat may arise.He should have a good temper, but a stiff jaw.Lastly, he should have digested this essay.


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CHAPTER IVTHE OUTFIT AND ITS USE

The plant required by an excavation will, ofcourse, vary with the conditions, but a list of thethings that it would seem advisable to lay in mayhave some interest.The main tools to be used by the men arepicks, spades, knives, and baskets. In Greece around rush basket is obtainable, being used in themines at Laurium, which is not too large, so thatwhen full of ea rth it is easily carried. I t is goodto have a large supply as they wear out and areuseful moreover for holding small finds such aspottery, as well as for shifting the earth, and evenas packing cases for the smaller finds if the journeyis short, the method being to sew two togetherwith string. The picks used should be very lightand spare shafts should not be forgotten unlessthere is a local supply. Besides these, a crowbaror two, a sledge hammer, a few sieves and somerope are indispensable.Indispensable also are a dumpy level, and aprismatic compass, of which the use is chiefly totake one bearing for any plan to find magnetic.I do not agree with the view th at th e archaeologistshould trouble himself with true north unless hewants to fit his plan on to an existing map, a rareevent. True north except in the case of temples


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and stone circles is quite immaterial, and if thework done is dated can always be obtained by anyone interested. But the stick method of ascer-taining it is easy and there is no harm in employingit on a fine Sunday. At any hour before noon asurveying pole is driven upright into the ground,and the end of the shadow is marked by a peg.A circle is drawn from the pole as centre with thethen length of shadow as radius. A watch iskept, and when in the afternoon the shadowlengthens again to touch the circle, that is to justthe same length, the point at which it does so ismarked by another peg. A line is drawn fromeach peg to the pole, and the line that bisects theresulting angle1 points due North and South.For ordinary excavation work there is not muchneed for a theodolite and at the present time Iconfess that I have forgotten how to use one.Yet, since it may always be advisable in the caseof a scattered site to make a survey of a longishtract of country, for which a prismatic compass isnot sufficiently accurate, and since a theodoliteembodies in itself a levelling instrument, it mightbe advisable to substitute it for the dumpy level.Over smaller areas however the system of triangleswith chain or tape is a more satisfactory methodof making a plan for the amateur than any readingof angles, for not only is any error of any anglemultiplied by the distance, but, no matter howaccurately the angles are read, the angle methodis fruitful of mistakes when it comes to puttingthe readings on paper with the help of a protrac tor.

1 Euclid, Book i, Prop. g. * Appendix B .


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For first aid to the finds there should be asupply of plaster of Paris and paraffin wax, andof shellac and methylated spirit for the mendingof anything that, like pottery, is not damaged bya clean flame. For other objects there should besome gum or cement such as seccotine, whichanswers admirably where the climate is dry andwarm, for the temporary mending that they needto fit them for the drawing or photography thatmust be done actually at the excavation, if anillustrated lecture is to be given before the fullstudy and arrangement of results in the museum.Water however will always dissolve seccotine, sothat in a damp climate its use is impossible;indeed I once knew a vase mended with it experi-mentally fall to pieces from the damp atmosphereafter three wet days. Like shellac it has theadvantage that it takes up no appreciable space,allowing a very close join, which is not thecase with the porcelain cements. In Egypt Ihave seen limestone telae with a surface verynear disintegration treated with a thin solution oftapioca with excellent results, but I have neverseen stone with the same tendency to powder ina less dry climate. Still, tapioca is cheap and notbulky.For cleaning pottery and terracotta objects agood supply of hydrochloric acid is wanted, ofwhich the method of use is either to leave thepottery in a fairly strong solution, or to dip it inwater and then to apply the acid neat with a pastebrush, or to do first the one and then the otherfor the more obstinate points. The brushes used


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4 2 THE OUTFIT AND ITS USE [CH.in this process are no t long lived. Afterwards theacid may be neutralised by dipping the potteryinto water in which a pinch of potash has beenthrowna very small pinch, for too much willleave a white film difficult to rem ove; but wherethe acid has no apparent effect on the fabric, andotherwise it should not be used, it is probablyenough to rinse the pottery in clean water, forwithin my experience no harm has ever resultedfrom the omission of the potash. All unknownwares however should be carefully tested beforeapplying the process, as very rarely the acid isfound to eat into the fabric; yet this is so unusual,and in my experience so much harm is done todelicate wares by rubbing with the brush in thecourse of washing with water, that I would wishto see acid used for all pottery found, not merelyreserved for the best, for by a patient use of itthe harmful rubbing is avoided. Moreover, if theearth of the site is at all clinging it may be very.hard to tell what is worthy of acid, and it is betterto shake hands with a waiter than to cut a guest.

Scrubbing brushes, large and small, and smallnail brushes are very helpful for the cleaning ofobjects with a hard surface; bu t should thesurface be at all delicate no brush, however soft,should be used, for the brush cannot discriminateand, while brushing the dirt that still remains,continues to brush the adjacent surface that ithas just cleaned, often much to its detriment.For such cases the right tool is a needle, whichwill generally be present in the excavator s personaloutfit, unless he wishes his socks to be permanently


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in holes and all his bu ttons to be missing; nothingis better if used with a light hand and a great dealof patience, for, by rubbing gently with the sideof the point and thus keeping an extremely smallportion of the metal in contact with the surface,the operator can see exactly what he is doing, andneed never touch again a part that is once madeclean.If it is anticipated that many small articleswill be found, nests of pill boxes in large numbersare useful things to have, for an object can thenbe put away in its own box with its label writtenoutside at the moment of finding; for this andother purposes cotton wool packing or better, ifobtainable, wood wool should be kept.Again if much pottery or anything that issmall is expected a supply of wooden trays is veryconvenient, as thus a comprehensive survey of thefinds is made easy; and m uch saving of space canbe obtained, when the yield from subdivisions issmall, by having a set of smaller tin trays fittingnestwise inside these. For the use of the BritishSchool at Athens, the late Director devised aportable rack for taking a number of these trays.It consisted of four stout uprights, held togetherby a number of cross pieces that acted as shelves,and were all numbered, and fastened by screws.These racks were used in pairs linked by battensthat could also support trays.Small bags are very useful, particularly on apottery site, for the immediate reception of thefragments of broken but more or less completevases, as by their use much subsequent work may


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be saved, and pieces kept together that by badluck might go permanently astray. For otherpurposes I believe trays to be better than bags,for though it may be argued that there is morechance of a tr ay s losing its label or its contents,yet this danger with reasonable care is very slight,and is less than that incurred by the bag whenthe contents are tilted out for study . Bags shouldbe of canvas with a string round the neck, forpaper bags though cheaper are ephemeral andtherefore unsatisfactory.No excavation is properly fitted out without agood supply of squeeze paper, the unsized paperused for taking impressions of inscriptions. ThisI may use as the text of an exhortation, though itis no part of my purpose to give hints for thestudy of epigraphy, even if I were capable ofdoing so, for the decipherment and interpretationof inscriptions is a branch of archaeology by itselfand while I do not mean to condemn th e epigraphistto be an epigraphist and nothing else, I do meanthat the versatile hero whom I have sketched willhardly have time for the special study that alonecan give the best results in epigraphy, though heshould, of course, have a general acquaintancewith the subject. I would however exhort allepigraphists, budding and full blown alike, to onepiece of most obvious common sense, namely, todistrus t the convenience of a copy. A copy is nodoubt necessary since neither the original inscrip-tion nor yet, if it is a large one, a squeeze of it canbe taken conveniently into libraries for study andthe collation of paralle ls; but whenever possible,


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even at the cost of some inconvenience, the textof inscriptions should be studied on the stonesthemselves, for as material for study, the stonecomes first, a good squeeze second, and a copy abad third.Perhaps an apology is due for these remarks toa learned brotherhood whose boots I am notworthy to black. I offer it, but shall let thesentences stand.Drawing paper, pencils, and water colours;indian ink and pens, compasses and drawing pens,these need no special m ention: they can be letpass with the remark that my own experience isthat there should be at least one large drawingboard, and that in the matter of ink drawings tobe reproduced by black and white block the mostpaying thing for an artist without pride is to havepaper as good and as thick as possible; for muchto save what appears irremediable can be done bya sharp knife, with the handle of a toothbrushkept handy to rub the scratched surface to asmoothness on which the ink will not run . I t isoften advisable to draw small objects larger thanlife size, partly for ease in working, if the detail isfine, and partly because better results in blockmaking are got by a reduction; bu t they shouldnever be published larger than actual size, for theeye is no t accustomed to imagining a thing smallerthan it appears and seldom manages the businessproperly. The draughtsman should be careful,too, if his work is to be reduced for publication,never to use too fine a line lest the block shouldomit it.


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The photographic outfit must be adequate butneed not be com plex: it must however include a twhatever cost of trouble, arrangements for imme-diate development, which failing all else can begot by making a portable dark room part of thecamp baggage; no one would dream to-day ofconducting a serious excavation without a com-petent photographer on thestaff but it is perhapsstill too much the custom to trust overmuch tothe success of his efforts, with the result that whenhe subsequently develops his plates it is to findthat one or more important picture has failed.Plates, therefore, must be developed at once, anduntil it is known that the picture is a good one,operations must be suspended to allow of its beingtaken again.At the risk of being wearisome I must repeatthat the camera must not be made a fetish; th atthough often indispensable it is not always enough,from its fatal habit of seeing too much, so that inits pictures sometimes the essential does not standout clearly against the unessential background:I must urge again that whenever this seems likelyto happen the photograph should be supplementedby a drawing.In spite of their extra weight, and the fear ofbreakage, plates should always be used in prefer-ence to films, and this not merely because of theirlesser cost. The needs of an excavation are bestserved by a supply in three speeds, very rapid,medium, and slow, of which the first and last areessential: the first because photography on anexcavation, though it must often wait for the


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right position of the sun, cannot wait for thesubsidence of the wind, and in a strong wind theonly hope of successful work lies in a very rapidp la te ; the last for museum work away from thedig where the wind need not enter into theproblem, in that case a slow plate is to be pre-ferred, because the slower the plate the easier itis to make sure of good results, under-exposurebeing practically the only danger to be guardedagainst. For the same reason I like a mediumplate for use out of doors when the wind is lessviolent, finding always that my more certainresults are got by using plates as slow as circum-stances allow. A reliable exposure meter is agreat help. The lens or lenses used must be verygood, and the camera should have enough exten-sion to take objects if necessary actual size. I tshould also be fitted with a tilting table, as thiswill not only be of great use on the excavation inhelping to get the lens into the right position forlooking into an awkward hole, but if the light isgood provides the best way of photographingsmall objects, such as jewellery or po tsherds ; theyare put on a sheet of glass supported off theground by an open wooden frame with legs abouta foot high and as thin as possible to avoidshadows; a background of white paper is placedbelow and the camera is swung over so as to takethe picture directly from above; if the light isstrong enough the white background is sufficientlybrilliant to swamp any reflections off the glass,and the fact that the background is about a footbelow the objects, brings about the disappearance


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of all cast shadows which have a tendency toobscure the outlines. A good negative so takencan be used for publication as it stands, therebeing no occasion for the painting out of shadowsthat is thought to be essential but may be moredamaging to the outlines than the shadows. I t isvery important with this ideal to get rid of thedust that is sure to fall from excavated objectswhen arranged for photography, and will be asgood a pretext for painting the negative as actualshadows; it is often impossible to finish the jobwith a brush without shifting the objects whichcauses a renewed fall of dust, but a vulcanitefountain pen electrified by rubbing is an admirablemeans of picking up the last specks.This method of photography however shou

j. p. droop archaeological excavation cambridge library collection - archaeology 2010

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