Chapters

1. Excavation
Stratigraphy: Digging layer by layer to preserve chronological context.
Context Sheets: Recording each layer, features and find in detail
Trowel Work: Gentle scraping to reveal features without damaging artefacts.
Planning Frames: Used to draw site features to scale.

2. Surveying & Mapping
Tape & Offset: Manual measurement for small sites.
Total Station & GPS: Precise digital mapping of features and finds, with coordinates.
Site Grid: Establishes spatial control for excavation and recording.

3. Non-Invasive Techniques (more professional)
Geophysical Survey: Includes magnetometry and resistivity to detect buried features.
Lidar & Aerial Photography: Reveals landscape changes and hidden structures.
Fieldwalking: Systematic surface collection to identify artefact concentrations.

4. Artefact Handling
In Situ Photography: Captures context before removal.
Bagging & Labelling: Ensures traceability of finds.
Finds Hut Protocols: Washing, sorting, marking, and cataloguing artefacts.

5. Environmental Sampling
Soil Cores & Flotation: Extracts pollen, seeds and micro-remains.

Ecofacts: Bones, charcoal and plant material that reveal diet and climate.

Memory Ledger: Context Sheet, now ritualised for the archive. The parchment-toned page holds space for soil, silence and story, with the sigil or symbol anchoring each entry like a seal of custodianship.

You’ll find: Context Number, Date, Custodian, Site Name, to mark the threshold.

Stratigraphic Description – for soil type, depth and adjacent layers.

Interpretive Notes – to hypothesise meaning and emotional tone.

Custodial Reflection – a space for poetic witnessing.

Ritual Actions – gestures performed, phrases spoken, reporting path.

Sigil or Mark – your closing symbol, drawn or stamped.