Let me suggest what to do with Munsell colors. No, I guess I can't
make those kinds of rude suggestions on the Internet. The decency
police are probably watching...
 
I have to join the Markel-McKee axis in bemoaning not only the use of
Munsell chips in a mechanical way, but all such "methods," from the
spacing of test pits to the taking of soil samples to the scaling of
ceramics values to the use of 8.5 x 11" paper for printing reports. I
learned the use of the Munsell book as an undergraduate in my first
field school back in the Upper Neolithic. I was digging on a
prehistoric site, and my instructor, who was well versed in
pedological processes, was very clear in explaining the uses of the
color chips, and their limitations. As a grad student I studied under
a very proficient environmental archaeologist and, again, Munsell was
a standard part of the recording of soils and stratigraphic
sequences, and always for a very good reason.
 
These experiences were with prehistorians on prehistoric sites. I
learned to apply and appreciate pedology to my understanding of site
formation processes. I have rarely seen an historic site in which
such an understanding made much difference other than being able to
recognize truncations, fills, and buried soils adequately. In any
case, the recording of a Munsell color is only important if you are
trying to figure out or document  something unusual or ambiguous in
the ground, and various interpretations would result in specific
color distinctions.
 
Of course, I am often glad that many contract firms mechanically use
the Munsell colors, so that I can see fairly quickly that some
interpretation they've made is totally full of beans because they
don't know what the heck they're doing.
 
While I can see Karlis's wisdom in using standard colors to describe
and discriminate manufactured products, their use as an excuse not to
understand how dirt got to be where it is and what its archaeological
significance may or may not be is just another example of the
lame-brained cook-book approach to field work. My first rule of
archaeology is "If you don't understand it, don't dig it." No amount
of recording of minutiae comes close to making up for ignorance in the
field.
 
On that happy note, Merry Merry to all.
 
Dan Mouer (who in three days will be eligible for nomination to the
National Register!)