A friend of mine used to carve the handles--death's heads, motorcycles,
snakes and so forth, but they became rather too ideotechnic to use, as
the carvings were quite, quite good.  "Burial trowels," as it were.  I
was going to commission a New Haven I-5/Shoreliner Hudson, but he gave
up carving as it was taking too much time, he was getting too much work,
and (he said) he could not drink all the beer with which he was being
paid.  Rather a disturbing admission, for an archaeologist!

D. Babson.


-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ron
May
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 11:14 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: New Marshallto(w)ns

Given the degree of roots out here in Calfiornia, a number of
archaeologists
modify their Marshalltown trowels by grinding notches in the shoulder
(the
part near the handle) to a sharp edge, so they can slice through roots.
As a
young archaeologywog, I carved notches in the handle for each new and
exciting
project...got too pockmarked after a while.

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.