Choose between a trowel and a shovel at my first dig site

I had a tough call last summer at the Pueblo Bonito site in Chaco Canyon. Pick a 4-inch Marshalltown trowel for fine work or a folding shovel for moving dirt fast. I went with the trowel 'cause the site supervisor said precision mattered more than speed. Ended up missing a big pit feature that the shovel guy found after I left for the day. Would you stick with the trowel next time or grab the shovel?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron_owens4921d ago

Buddy of mine had this exact problem at a dig out in New Mexico. He grabbed the shovel because he wanted to clear a huge test unit fast and impress the crew chief. Ended up scraping right through a cluster of tiny projectile points, chipped a few of them up pretty bad. The lab tech nearly had a heart attack when she saw the damage under the microscope. He learned the hard way that speed without care just means more paperwork and pissed off archaeologists.

kai_bennett21d ago

I read somewhere that a crew in Utah did the same thing with a backhoe, thought they were clearing just sterile fill. Dragged a bucket right through a hearth feature with charcoal bits and burned bone. Took them weeks to try and piece it back together in the lab.