That excavation in St. Augustine taught me a hard lesson about sieving

Last month on a dig near the old city gate, I skipped the fine mesh sieve on one test pit because I was in a hurry. Ended up missing three tiny glass trade beads from the 1600s that turned up later in the wet screen wash. Had to go back and re-sift that whole 2x2 meter unit, which cost me a full afternoon in the Florida heat. Has anyone else broken a personal rule like that and regretted it right away?

2 comments

2 Comments

lee_ward545d ago

Were you using dry screening or running water through a setup? I ask because missing trade beads in Florida sand is a specific kind of headache. That heavy iron-rich soil clumps up bad once it bakes in the sun. Did you end up running the whole re-sift through a quarter-inch or finer mesh after you caught the mistake?

karenlee5d ago

And here I thought careful dry screening would catch everything just fine.