Wow, I've been doing archaeology for almost 10 years and have never heard of
the beer penalty for breaking string in a unit.  Just when I was on the
point of starting to think perhaps I've seen it all, you've all shown me I'm
still just a green whippersnapper after all.  Thanks for teaching me
something new!

I'm also not a big fan of leaving string in place once a unit is underway
(other than the string for the unit datum, of course).  My worst memory
involving string was working on a project near Doylestown, PA about 8 years
ago.  For some reason, there were a number of deep units in the field that
had been left open (though finished) for several months prior to my arrival
on the project.  Of course the task of filling in the units now fell upon my
crew.  Unfortunately all were filled to the top with water, and they were
probably 152cm in depth.  My unit to backfill also was home to an species
unidentifiable, bloated corpse of a small mammal who had gotten tangled in
the aforementioned string, and strangled itself, then presumably drowned and
entered into a watery grave in our unit.  The water in this unit was also
full of what I can only describe as rotting carcass froth, and made
backfilling a real treat.  We would throw shovelfuls of dirt from as far
away from the unit as humanly possible, and quickly turn our faces away as
the rotting carcass froth would splash back onto us.  Needless to say, all
of us who had worked on backfilling that particular unit had to throw away
whatever we were wearing that day, as you know they would never come clean
again (not that we really wanted to handle them either at the end of the
day).  Gee, I hope no one was reading their e-mail over a snack or
anything... ;>

Jennifer Palmer
Webmaster, archaeologyfieldwork.com

http://www.archaeologyfieldwork.com

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