I was catching up on my HISTARCH e-mails over lunch.... haha!  Phased me not
one whit; I'm retired from Law Enforcement.

Pam Asbury-Smith
SRI Tucson

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jennifer Palmer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 5:20 PM
Subject: Re: Duh.


> 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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