Fuck Yeah, Archaeology!

themuseingreece:

My beautiful labels. Complete with 5th century BCE capital Omegas and Byzantine Mus.

The top one is for όστρακα (sherds). The one in the middle is for the lead joint. Finally, the one on the bottom is for ζωικά οστά (animal bones). “Δοκιμαστική Τομή” means “test trench,” since we were doing an extension of a partially excavated floor and weren’t necessarily working in a set square on the grid; it was more like an area where a bunch of squares met. :)

This post is on the importance of labeling your finds! Over the summer, I helped excavate a site called Mygdalia Hill, which is about five km outside of Greece’s third largest city, Patras. One of my favourite tasks was writing labels because I love writing in the Greek alphabet. 

We dug a lot of layers (stroma, pl. stromata in Greek), and therefore ended up with dozens of bags full of artefacts (mostly pot sherds and animal bones). Every single bag ended up with one of these labels. The particular labeling convention we used was: 

• Name of the site (Akropoli Mygdalias, Petrotou) on the top of the label
• Room or test trench (these three labels are from a test trench, but we were also working in what could have been a residential structure, so we had labels that said “Room 4” as well). 
• A number in either a circle or triangle. The number itself just says which bag number the label was for. A circle was for more “run of the mill” finds and was therefore mostly used for pot sherd bags (ostraka). Triangles were used for “special” finds, like animal bones or the lead joint I found, which would have been used to repair ancient breaks in pottery. There were more bags with triangles because sometimes only one artefact would go into those, whereas you’d have a bag of pot sherds that was practically filled to the brim! 
• What’s actually in the bag. Even if we were working in the same layer and found both animal bones and pot sherds, they would have to go into separate bags. But the information on the label itself can tell you that they were found in the same layer.
• Layer (stroma). 
• Date.

lenofi:

allthingseurope:

York, UK (by markspokes49 | tumblr)

FUN FACT ABOUT YORKMINSTER CATHEDRAL:

The entrance is not aligned with the approach street. Underneath it, the Norman foundations are on another axis. The Roman footprint is at the axis of the original approach road (some of which are now pedestrianized…and have medieval and Tudor era facades crowding the street). if you get a chance to visit, definitely take the tour through the crypts and the foundations. WELL WORTH IT.