I  always prefer using US Customary measurements for historic era sites
with metric following in parenthasis. Non archaeologists like local
historical societies and forest service folks who have to help locate and
manage these sites want something in measurments they can understand.  I
consider that putting the measurements in mertic is a disservice to those
who are paying for all of this.  Since I was trained to be an
anthroplogicaly oriented archaeologist, it makes much more sense to use US
Customary (note: this is NOT English measurements) since that is the system
used by the groups that made the site and artifacts and is still the system
in common use by their descendents.  The measurements can easily be added
in metric for ease of conversion for an international audience.  As for
preshistoric archaeology since we don't know what they actually used, any
system is as good as any other one.

Two major points.  1)  If anyone has had the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center ARPA Couse, one of the most important DO NOTs is to use
metric in a site damage assessment report that will have to go to a jury OR
any of the backround documents that will be requested by the defendant's
lawyers.  It will not only turn a jury off but can occasionally antagonize
them.

2) Using metric does NOT make what we do "science".  If you want to be
scientific, use the SYSTEME INTERNATIONAL
Also referred to as the New International System or by its initials SI. It
was adopted by the 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures in
Paris, October, 1960. It is fundamentally an expansion of 18th century
metric to incorporate scientific and technological developments of the 20th
century.  SI has seven base units (meter, kilogram,second, ampere, kelvin,
mole, and candela)  and two supplementary units (radian and steradian).

OK, Now let the fur fly !!!!!!!!!!!!

:-)

Smoke.


Smoke (Michael A.) Pfeiffer, RPA
Ozark-St. Francis National Forests
605 West Main Street
Russellville, Arkansas 72801
(479) 968-2354  Ext. 233
e-mail:  [log in to unmask]

It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.




                      Anita
                      Cohen-Williams           To:      [log in to unmask]
                      <sdpresidio@MIND         cc:
                      SPRING.COM>              Subject: Re: measuring historic materials, structures, etc
                      Sent by:
                      HISTORICAL
                      ARCHAEOLOGY
                      <[log in to unmask]
                      u>


                      09/08/2003 02:54
                      AM
                      Please respond
                      to HISTORICAL
                      ARCHAEOLOGY






Carol,

Most archaeologists in this country use the metric system when measuring.
The only time I found people using inches was at Wharram Percy in
Yorkshire.



At 01:47 PM 9/5/2003 -0700, you wrote:

>This may be mundane to some (many?) of you...but I was wondering (having
>perused Noel-Hume's If Pottery Could Talk the other day)...how the rest of
>you...out there...measure your historic artifacts...etc.  We always use
>metrics for prehistoric stuff (artifacts, units, etc.)...but have the
>policy (out here in San Diego) that English measure is used when dealing
>with historic stuff.  Yet NH measured the plates, etc. in centimeters.  Is
>that just British...or is it done regionally in the US also?

Anita Cohen-Williams
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