Your biggest problem is safety. Imagine a small child breaking their leg 
and the multi-million pound law suit afterwards.  Anything potentially 
dangerous needs fencing off and hazard signs.  As far as children are 
concerned there is probably no defence that would save you from a 
negligence claim/criminal charge but you have to make every effort to 
make the site safe.  I have worked on numerous multi-year projects and 
some damage from weather and visitors is inevitable especially in regard 
to sections.. Weather and soil type make a difference. Soil laid over 
plastic sheeting has been widely used in UK on English Heritage and Cadw 
sites dug in successive summers over many decades and I haven't seen an 
effective substitute. Areas of open soil can be left to weather though 
nematode infections amongst diggers can be a minor problem due to dogs 
and wild animals using the site as a toilet.

paul courtney
Leicester
UK












[log in to unmask] wrote:





>Hello all, 
>
>I am in the middle of a public archaeology project where we return to the same site every few months.  I am looking for ways to protect the site between digs without necessarily having to fill in the excavation units between each dig session.  It is also part of a park/museum and we would like to have the site open for visitors and interpretation (we have stone foundations, brick dry well, etc).  We have thought about shoring up the sides of the excavation units.  Also we recently caught someone trying to remove bricks from the exposed top of a small dry well/cistern.  So security is now also an issue.
>
>Any experience, ideas?
>
>thanks,
>Jeannine Kreinbrink
>Senior Archaeologist, N&E Env. Solutions
>President, James A. Ramage Civil War Museum Board
>
>---- Missi Green <[log in to unmask]> wrote: 
>  
>
>>You can try Phil Dering at Shumla Archeobotanical Services, Comstock Texas. 
>>
>>Missi Green
>>Geo-Marine, Inc.
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Megan
>>Springate
>>Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 3:18 PM
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: Wood Sample Lab?
>>
>>Greetings,
>>
>>Can anyone suggest a company to send wood samples to for species 
>>identification?
>>
>>Many thanks,
>>Megan Springate.
>>    
>>
>
>  
>