Call for papers to be presented at a session on excavation methodology at the
fifth annual meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists, Bournemouth
UK, 14-19 September 1999
 
DIGGING IN THE DIRT: EXCAVATION IN A NEW MILLENNIUM
 
Members of the EAA should already be aware that there are great differences in
the way archaeologists excavate in different countries. This stands in stark
contrast to such "hard" sciences as biology, chemistry or physics. Is this a
problem?
        Considering how much of the archaeology we do today is strictly
interpretative - the gender studies, the post-processional and other syntheses
of data already available, etc. - it probably is: how many of our theoretical
and interpretative models are based on poorly collected data (i.e. poorly
excavated sites)?
        Another major trend is towards increasingly fragmented excavation
projects: instead of excavating a whole site for research purposes, someone
watches the installation of a sewer line and documents their observations.
Without standardised excavation methods and documentation techniques, how can
data gathered from one such "keyhole" excavation be combined with that from any
other project on the same site?
        In this session we will take the opportunity this "end/turn of the
century/millennium" offers, to look seriously at the dirty business of
excavation. We can look back at how we have excavated in the past, and perhaps
begin a discussionarchaeologists excavate their sites in different countries,
and perhaps learn
from one another.
Topics to be examined will/could include:
7 Stratigraphy
7 soil descriptions
7 documentation systems
7 excavation methods
7 the relationship between documentation and excavation
7 surveying
7 remote sensing
etc.
 
 
EAA 99                          [log in to unmask]
        http://csweb.bournemouth.ac.uk/consci/eaa99/
 
Session organizer:
Geoff Carver                    [log in to unmask]
 
 
geoff carver
http://home.t-online.de/home/gcarver/
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