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Inger E.(Norah) wrote:
> "Peter Alaca" <p.alaca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:45820518$0$20618$dbd4d001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Tom McDonald <kiltmac@xxxxxxxxx > wrote:
> >
> > > On Dec 14, 4:51 pm, "IE_Json" <inger_e.johans...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > > wrote:
> > >> "tk" <kavan...@xxxxxxx> wrote in
> > >> messagenews:1166134647.018601.189340@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>> Alan Crozier wrote:
> > >>>> I have to translate the Swedish term "hackbord". It's a table on
> > >>>> which excavated soil can be spread so that you can comb through it
> > >>>> in search of objects of interest. The Swedish term means literally
> > >>>> "chopping table". What do you call it in English?
> > >>
> > >>>> Alan
> > >>
> > >>> Does it have a solid bottom? Why not just "table"? ("sorting
> > >>> table"?)
> > >>
> > >>> Usually archies on this side of the pond use a rocker box with a
> > >>> screen bottom to sieve soil for artifacts/stuff
> > >>
> > >>> tktk
> > >> look at the photo of two archaeologists are working using a
> > >> 'hackbord' which
> > >> is a type of table on which soil, sand etc can be comb/gone thru
> > >>
> carefully.http://hildebrand.raa.se/uv//projekt/vast/gotatunnel2001_02/v28.ht
> m
> > >
> > > The soil in that image appears very cohesive, perhaps wet and/or
> > > clayey. Certainly clumpy. I suspect it would be useless to try to
> > > sieve that stuff.
> > >
> > > In the sorting table shown, the point appears to be the same as
> > > sieving, only using your hands (and tools?) to do the separating
> > > rather than the screen.
> > >
> > > I imagine that, in appropriate conditions, a rocker box would be used,
> > > too. Or are Scandihoovians just inveterate doing-it-the-hard-way-ers?
> >
> > Some years ago we excavated a Roman horse from
> > very havy clay. Quite a job.
> > Afterwards it must be cleaned of course, before it
> > could be prepared. That was almost worse than the
> > digging. It must be done very carefully, because most
> > of the bone was very soft. Very frustrating because many
> > bones crumbled in your hand or broke when you broke a
> > lump of clay. The skul looked nice, but in the end the
> > skeleton was in a too bad condition for proper preparing.
> > After all that work! That do I call the hard way.
>
> Well the hackbord is a very easy and excellent 'tool'-piece to use. Not as
> Tom assumed a way to do it the hard way - on the contrary it's doing it the
> easy way.
Difficult or easy isn't really so much the issue as using the most
appropriate technique for the material. In many cases, as with very
cohesive (wet or dry) material, the hackbord/hackboard is the better
way to go, and sieving the harder. In other cases, when the soil is not
so cohesive, sieving is the way to go.
My point about Scandihoovians and difficulty was specific to the issue
of whether you guys failed to use sieving when it is the most
appropriate technique. I assumed you would use it when appropriate.
> "Om jorden är tung av t ex lera kan det vara jobbigt att använda såll. Då
> kan man istället at till et sk hackbord. Jorden förs upp på en plan yta där
> den finfördelas och söks igenom systematiskt efter eventuella föremål."
>
> "If the soil is 'heavy' due to for example clay it can be hard working with
> a sieve. Instead you can use a so called 'hackbord'. The soil is transported
> to a plane surface where it's grind into finer particles and
> systematically/carefully gone thru for possible artifacts"
> http://www.geocities.com/stenrose_och_teg/intro_arkgr.htm
That's the point of sieving, too. While the hackboard would seem to
have the advantage of thoroughness over sieving (due to the size of the
hardware cloth holes in the sieve), if every bit of excavated soil is
examined this way, the sieve has the advantage of speed and
selectivity. The sieve spoil is, as a matter of course, sampled for
smaller bits (graduated sieves) and floated for biologicals.
ISTM that the real question as to which to use is one made by the
archaeologist(s), along with ancillary professionals (botanists,
biologists, etc.) at each dig site, and may change as soil conditions
change.
Real archaeology. I love the smell of unwashed bodies in the morning!
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