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Basic
Recording Procedures
This document
provides a basic introduction to the procedures used in all aspects
of recording at the OSU Excavations. Recording is a crucial consideration
since all records of activity and all objects, drawings, photographs,
etc., must be properly recorded and related to their archaeological
contexts. It is often (and correctly) said that excavation is also
destruction. Careful, consistent, and accurate recording is necessary
in any archaeological undertaking; it is essential for archaeological
interpretation and it is one of the basic tasks of site conservation
and preservation. These directions proceed from the most general
(broadest) considerations to the more specific aspects.
Areas
of investigation
We are involved
in many different broad areas of scholarly investigation. These
focus on excavation in the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia, but
they include various areas and projects that are more broadly based.
They include the following:
ISTHMIA
- THE BYZANTINE
FORTRESS
- THE WEST
CEMETERY
- THE NORTHEAST
GATE
- THEATER
- NORTH
DRAIN
- THEATER
COURT
- NORTHWEST
PRECINCT
- TOWER
14
- TOWER
10
- TOWER
2
- TOWER
15
- IONIC
COLUMN BASE and DECAUVILLE GRAVES
- FORTRESS
STAIRWAYS
- LOUKOS
- EAST FIELD
- ROMAN
BATH
SOFIKO
(MEDIEVAL SITE IN SE KORINTHIA)
EVRAIONISOS
(ISLAND IN THE SARONIC GULF)
AGIOS
VASILIOS (MEDIEVAL CASTLE)
DOKOS
(EARLY BYZANTINE SETTLEMENT AND CASTLE)
ANCIENT
KORINTH (MODERN VILLAGE WITH ITS AGRICULTURAL HINTERLAND)
AKROKORINTH
(PENDING PERMISSION OF CORINTH EXCAVATIONS)
KENCHREAI
( IN COOPERATION WITH RICHARD ROTHAUS)
Medieval
castle of Agios Vasilios, south of Korinth
Harbor
at Dokos, an island in the Gulf of Argos
Excavation
and recording system
It is crucial
that all staff members be familiar with the basic principles of
our recording system. Essentially, we seek to record the location
of all information using a 3-dimensional grid, based upon a "northing-easting-elevation"
system. We assume that a crucial fact is archaeological context--for
buried objects the archaeologist can determine what objects went
into the soil together, and that this context should be preserved.
This context becomes the basis of our entire archaeological recording
system. This procedure is a modified version of the "Corinth system,"
developed by Charles K. Williams, II, probably the best living excavator
in Greece today. Context is determined, first of all, by the broad
geographical location of the items being investigated.
This means that,
in recording our excavations at Isthmia, the broadest category is
the Area of the excavation (as listed above). Within the Area
are normally many Trenches, and each trench is made up of
a number of "Baskets," each of which is carefully recorded
in a notebook.
The Basket is
the basic archaeological context: it normally should be seen as
a three-dimensional space that contains objects that have some
relationship to each other. The limits of the Basket (or Stratigraphic
Unit) are normally determined by the excavator on the basis of soil
type, color, density, and "feel" of the soil. That is, a single
basket will be determined by the homogeneity of its appearance;
it is assumed that all of the material in a single basket (soil,
seeds, bones, pottery, gold coins) got into the soil at the same
time (roughly) and probably as a result of the same cause or causes.
At Isthmia Baskets
are numbered sequentially (1-up) in each notebook. Thus, in order
to know where an individual basket (say, basket 10) was located,
you have to know what notebook it was in.
Differences
in recording systems: pre and post 1980
Up until 1980
Trenches were related directly to Areas; thus, in 1969 excavation
was carried out in both the Northeast Gate and in Tower 14 (among
other places). Each of these areas had its own series of trenches
(e.g., 69-NEH -Trench 2, and 69-T14-Trench 2). Since 1990 trenches
have been numbered sequentially (from 1 up) by year, with out regard
to area location. Thus Tr 95-1 was in the Northeast Gate, while
Tr 95-2 was in the Loukos Area. (Note: there was no excavation between
1980 and 1990.)
Likewise, until
1980 notebooks were normally identified by the initials of the trench
supervisors (CDL, RP, etc.) and almost all recorded excavation in
one area only. Since 1990 notebooks are identified by a running
number (1 onward) and they may be used to record exploration in
any area of the site.
Excavated
material
When we excavate
a single context, we divide the material that is excavated into
three separate groups:
DISCARDED
MATERIAL: Although in many New World excavations there is a
goal to preserve 100% of what is excavated, in classical lands this
is clearly impossible. We must, in fact, sample our material, simply
because we find so much. We cannot save it all. Thus--in very general
terms--we have to throw the "dirt" away, often with some of the
cultural material. Clearly, we have to water sieve and save seeds,
bones, samples of soil, etc., but we cannot save everything. It
is the duty of every classical excavation to determine what it will
save and what it will throw away, and to make this clear in the
excavation records. In addition, it is important to make clear where
the discarded material has been thrown, so it will not be encountered
again, or if it is, our successors will know what has happened.
INVENTORIED
OBJECTS: Some objects are selected from an excavated context
for special treatment. This is usually because they are a) unusually
well preserved or b) perceived by the excavator to be especially
important. These are then separated from the context material and
separately inventoried. These objects, then, receive:
1. An inventory
number, marked upon it. This number is based on the following system:
TYPE OF
OBJECT -- YEAR -- RUNNING NUMBER
Thus, the following
abbreviations are used to mark the type of object:
- IA Architecture
- IC Coins
- IM Miscellaneous
(small finds: glass, jewelery, etc.)
- IPB Byzantine
Pottery
- IPG Greek
Pottery
- IPL Lamps
- IPR Roman
Pottery
- IS Sculpture
- IS Inscriptions
Then, the year
of discovery is added, along with a running number, based simply
on when the object was inventoried.
Sample inventory
numbers, thus, might be:
IPL 78-23
a lamp from 1978
IPB 68-124 a Byzantine pot from 1968
IS 93-1 a sculpture from 1993
IC 90-4 a coin from 1990
2. The inventoried
objects are stored on shelves and boxes, generally in groups based
on their year and the kind of material (as above). The present location
of inventoried material, indeed all material from excavated contexts,
can be determined from the "Location Index" in the "Isthmia Handbook."
Context
material
From 1967 to
1978 Isthmia Excavations employed a system of "baskets" and "boxes"
to indicate Stratigraphic units within excavated trenches. These
terms were not always utilized consistently and the baskets and
boxes sometimes referred simply to the containers where objects
were stored during excavation; thus baskets were normally larger
than boxes, and there were sometime marble and glass baskets as
well as baskets for context pottery. On most occasions, however,
the baskets were used to define three-dimensional areas of excavation,
along with all the objects from that space.
Baskets
and lots
Since 1988 we
have employed a system whereby the original basket and box numbers
are translated into a consistent and uniform system of Lots. It
seemed desirable to maintain the original basket designations (with
a running series of baskets for each notebook), and the Lots designations
have been devised to follow as closely as possible the basket/box
serration in the original notebooks (note that we assume that a
"box" and a "basket" mean the same thing in the original notebooks)
. Thus, in most cases it is possible to make a direct translation
from a basket/box designation to the Lot designation. For example,
Basket 5 in C.D.L.'s 1967 NEG notebook becomes Lot 67-CDL-005. Only
where there are duplicate basket/box numbers or where basket/box
numbers were not assigned or confused has it been necessary to assign
a new Lot designation and only then has this been noted in the notebook.
When there are duplicate basket/box numbers, the box number remains
as is, and the basket is assigned the original number, with the
addition of .1: e.g., 67-NWP-008 (box), 67-NWP-008.1 (basket).
Remember that
notebooks since 1990 have used a different system since the notebooks
are numberd consecutively from 01 onward; thus, the Lots are designated
01-001, 01-002 (corresponding to baskets 1 and 2 of NB 1), etc.
The key to the
entire recording process is the lot number. Records of all objects,
contexts, etc., should include the lot number, since it is through
this that the archaeological context of the material can be determined.
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