Hi Kris.
 
In 1952, while digging a late prehistoric village site at Texarkana
Reservoir and fretting because there was not nearly enough time or money to
get a good sample from the site, I saw a road grader come around the bend
of the adjacent gravel road.  I hailed the driver, a county employee, and
talked him into grading off the plowzone from a sizeable area of the site.
This worked out beautifully: We found and excavated a lot of features that
otherwise would have been lost under the waters of the reservoir.  To
complete the story, the grader got mired down at the site and the driver
had to call his office and ask for a tractor to pull him out.  His boss
gave him a bad time about taking the grader off the road into a plowed
field, and the vituperations of the driver--who, for some reason, blamed me
instead of himself--ring in my ears to this day.
 
After that experience I began moving dirt with machines when it seemed
appropriate, using bulldozers, backhoes, Ditch Witches, and other machinery
on many CRM and other projects with excellent results.  A great many other
archaeologists have done the same.  In fact, I thought this had become
standard procedure years ago almost everywhere.
 
        Ed Jelks
 
At 09:56 AM 6/22/98 -0500, K. Kris Hirst wrote:
 
>Okay, now I need to delurk. Our methods of identifying deeply buried sites
have improved, I think most people would agree. The problem is
investigating the deeply buried "rugs" within the context of a Phase II CRM
excavation. Sure, you can spot the stratigraphy from the top down even as
you go, even in alluvial settings; my problem is getting there fast enough,
within the strictures of time and budget. I want to know, how many people
here regularly use power equipment to get to these sites on Phase IIs.
>
>In my heart of hearts, I'm beginning to believe that "strip off the
plowzone and look for features" might be a legitimate method in many Phase
II situations. I fully admit that I have been on sites where I know I've
missed the rugs. And when the rugs might consist of early cabin basins, I'm
not happy about it a bit.
>
>kris Kris Hirst Office of the State Archaeologist The University of Iowa
[log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] <http://archaeology.miningco.com>
this week: an interview with Page Putnam Miller
>
>