Watched a dig team use trowels versus brushes on a Roman site

I visited an active dig in York last month and noticed one crew was all about trowels for cleaning artifacts while another used only brushes. The brush team uncovered a tiny bronze brooch with no damage, but the trowel group scratched up a pottery shard pretty bad. Has anyone else seen this divide in technique cause problems on a site?

2 comments

2 Comments

danielowens13d ago

Did you ever watch a crew work and just assume they knew what they were doing? I used to think trowels were the go to tool for everything, that brushes were for final cleanup only. But I saw the same thing you did a few years back at a site in Chester. The trowel guys rushed through a layer and cracked a piece of Samian ware pretty badly. Meanwhile the brush team pulled out a complete fibula pin without a scratch. It completely changed how I see things now. You have to match the tool to what you are digging, not just follow what everyone else does. Speed is great until you ruin something that took two thousand years to survive.

the_hayden13d ago

Totally agree with @danielowens. Seen a few too many broken bits myself. Patience beats speed every time when you’re pulling history out of the ground.