Hi Katie,
A few thoughts before I go out the door for a week.
We have a beach site in California we've been working on for many years.
If the sand is slightly wet, it will not go through your screens. Out of
desperation we developed a technique of the digger laying out a shovel full
of sand on the back dirt whereby the would be screener goes through it with
their fingers. If there's a strong enough wind the surface sand will dry
out and blow into your diggers face.  We use neck scarf over the mouth and
plastic goggles over the eyes. We find the artifacts in a depth zone
(depending where on the beach profile we are), suggestive of a lag layer
resulting from storm activity in history.  Artifacts heavy enough stay on
site and winnow down to greatest depth of disturbance.  While 1x1s and 1x2s
have their place in exploration of the site, we find treanching goes
faster.  Dry sand around the top of the unit falls in but wet sand
comprising the walls holds their shape until drying out. Depending on the
depth of the water table behind the berm (usually about a meter or so) your
depth will be limited by it's presence.  You probably surmise all of this
already.  Good luck.

On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 8:25 AM, Katherine Hull <[log in to unmask]
> wrote:

> Good afternoon, folks. Just looking for a little professional advice. We
> will be starting an excavation at the base of the bluffs and along the
> sandy beach of Lake Ontario. Does anyone have any tips re: working in pure
> sand? Our usual approach would be 1x1m test units, but we are wondering if
> trenching (hand-dug, of course) might be a better plan. Vertical control of
> the artifact locations is not imperative as these are secondary deposits at
> the very best. I see depths of deposits being minimal, perhaps 40 cm at the
> most.
> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
> (at least screening will be a breeze!)
> Thanks,
> Katie Hull