That field school in Cornwall changed how I dig, no joke

Last summer I went to a 3 week field school near Tintagel and the site supervisor caught me scraping a trench floor like I was buttering toast. She stopped everyone and said "you're destroying the context layers, slow down or go home." Turns out I was moving about 2 cm too deep and wiping out charcoal fragments that would have given a proper radiocarbon date. Since then I check my trowel angle every 5 minutes and I've started using a dustpan brush for the last passes. Has anyone else had a supervisor call them out for bad technique that stuck with you forever?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylan_thompson1mo ago

Got chewed out in Wales for the same thing, scraping too deep on a floor surface. Supervisor made me redo a whole square with a bucket trowel and a brush, said I was treating it like a garden. That moment stuck because it taught me the difference between removing dirt and reading a layer. Now I do the last few millimeters like I'm dusting a museum shelf, barely any pressure, and I check my wrist angle every pass. The charcoal bits you save are the ones that end up making your dates actually mean something. Good on you for fixing it early, some folks never do.

the_lucas1mo ago

You ever catch yourself holding your breath on that last pass, like the brush is gonna break if you go too hard? Exactly how I learned it too, wrist angle is everything, and once you stop fighting the surface it just clicks.